Impact of social media on attitudes and professional growth of physical therapy students of Foundation University, Islamabad, Pakistan

Objective: To evaluate the use of social media on attitudes and Professional growth among physical therapy students at our institution. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted inFoundation University Islamabad (FUI) from March 2015 to August 2015,A self-structured questionnaire was designed to survey 94 physical therapy students of FUI. The questionnaire which was floated among the students was based on two sections; the first containing questions assessing the frequency of social media use and its usefulness on student's professional growth and the second regarding attitudes towards the use of social media in physical therapy. Results: Out of 94 students, 48% of the student's internet usage hours were 1-3, whereas 24% of the students used internet daily for more than 3 Hours. 50% students used social media for professional purposes. Factor analysis showed that attitudes toward social media were based on five factors: professional usefulness, popularity, ethics, barriers, and innovativeness. A structural equation model revealed the highest positive correlation between usefulness and innovativeness; ethics had a low but positive correlation with other factors. Conclusion: Social Media is used extensively by the students nowadays but then, most of them use it for entertainment purposes. Hence those students who used it for professional development were seen with their better professional growth and development compared to the rest of the students. (Rawal Med J 201 ;43:494-497).