Jennie C De Gagne1, Katherine Hall2, Jamie L Conklin3, Sandra S Yamane4, Noelle Wyman Roth5, Jianhong Chang6, Sang Suk Kim7. 1. Duke University, School of Nursing, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: jennie.degagne@duke.edu. 2. School of Nursing, Alderson Broaddus University, Philippi, WV, USA. Electronic address: hallkm2@ab.edu. 3. Health Sciences Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Electronic address: jconkli@email.unc.edu. 4. Department of Nursing, Catawba College, Salisbury, NC, USA. Electronic address: ssyamane17@catawba.edu. 5. Social Sciences Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA. Electronic address: noelle.wymanroth@duke.edu. 6. SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA. Electronic address: Jianhong.chang@sas.com. 7. Red Cross College of Nursing, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, South Korea. Electronic address: kss0530@cau.ac.kr.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although misuse of social networking sites, particularly Twitter, has occurred, little is known about the prevalence, content, and characteristics of uncivil tweets posted by nurses and nursing students. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of tweets posted by nurses and nursing students on Twitter with a focus on cyberincivility. METHOD: A cross-sectional, data-mining study was held from February through April 2017. Using a data-mining tool, we extracted quantitative and qualitative data from a sample of 163 self-identified nurses and nursing students on Twitter. The analysis of 8934 tweets was performed by a combination of SAS 9.4 for descriptive and inferential statistics including logistic regression and NVivo 11 to derive descriptive patterns of unstructured textual data. FINDINGS: We categorized 413 tweets (4.62%, n = 8934) as uncivil. Of these, 240 (58%) were related to nursing and the other 173 (42%) to personal life. Of the 163 unique users, 60 (36.8%) generated those 413 uncivil posts, tweeting inappropriately at least once over a period of six weeks. Most uncivil tweets contained profanity (n = 135, 32.7%), sexually explicit or suggestive material (n = 37, 9.0%), name-calling (n = 14, 3.4%), and discriminatory remarks against minorities (n = 9, 2.2%). Other uncivil content included product promotion, demeaning comments toward patients, aggression toward health professionals, and HIPAA violations. CONCLUSION: Nurses and nursing students share uncivil tweets that could tarnish the image of the profession and violate codes of ethics. Individual, interpersonal, and institutional efforts should be made to foster a culture of cybercivility.
BACKGROUND: Although misuse of social networking sites, particularly Twitter, has occurred, little is known about the prevalence, content, and characteristics of uncivil tweets posted by nurses and nursing students. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of tweets posted by nurses and nursing students on Twitter with a focus on cyberincivility. METHOD: A cross-sectional, data-mining study was held from February through April 2017. Using a data-mining tool, we extracted quantitative and qualitative data from a sample of 163 self-identified nurses and nursing students on Twitter. The analysis of 8934 tweets was performed by a combination of SAS 9.4 for descriptive and inferential statistics including logistic regression and NVivo 11 to derive descriptive patterns of unstructured textual data. FINDINGS: We categorized 413 tweets (4.62%, n = 8934) as uncivil. Of these, 240 (58%) were related to nursing and the other 173 (42%) to personal life. Of the 163 unique users, 60 (36.8%) generated those 413 uncivil posts, tweeting inappropriately at least once over a period of six weeks. Most uncivil tweets contained profanity (n = 135, 32.7%), sexually explicit or suggestive material (n = 37, 9.0%), name-calling (n = 14, 3.4%), and discriminatory remarks against minorities (n = 9, 2.2%). Other uncivil content included product promotion, demeaning comments toward patients, aggression toward health professionals, and HIPAA violations. CONCLUSION: Nurses and nursing students share uncivil tweets that could tarnish the image of the profession and violate codes of ethics. Individual, interpersonal, and institutional efforts should be made to foster a culture of cybercivility.
Authors: Vanesa Gutiérrez-Puertas; Lorena Gutiérrez-Puertas; Gabriel Aguilera-Manrique; Mᵃ Carmen Rodríguez-García; Verónica V Márquez-Hernández Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-02-01 Impact factor: 3.390