E-Professionalism among Dental Students from Malaysia and Finland

Pentti Nieminen, Eswara Uma, Shani Ann Mani, Jacob John, Marja-Liisa Laitala and Olli-Pekka Lappalainen
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Pentti Nieminen: Medical Informatics and Data Analysis Research Group, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Eswara Uma: Faculty of Dentistry, Manipal University College Malaysia, Melaka 75150, Malaysia
Shani Ann Mani: Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Jacob John: Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 50603, Malaysia
Marja-Liisa Laitala: Research Unit of Oral Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Oulu, 90014 Oulu, Finland
Olli-Pekka Lappalainen: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Diseases, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, 00014 Helsinki, Finland

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 6, 1-13

Abstract: The increased use of social media in dentistry is associated with both advantages and disadvantages. A new form of professionalism, “e-professionalism,” has emerged. It includes an online persona and online information in any format that displays cues to professional identity, attitudes, and behaviors. The objective was to explore the perceptions of Malaysian and Finnish dental students on e-professionalism. A survey of 613 Malaysian and Finnish students was performed. The main variables assessed were posting of objectionable or inappropriate content among students, attitudes towards unprofessional online content, perceived online presence, contacts with patients and faculty members on social media, and concerns about social media use. The prevalence of posting clearly unprofessional content was not high among dental students. Revealing information of patients was most common content of clear unprofessionalism. Students from Malaysia contacted patients and faculty members more actively in social media than students in Finland (73.6% of students in Malaysia and 11.8% in Finland had invited faculty members to be “friends”). Malaysian students were more concerned and more likely to react to inappropriate content on social media. Attitude of dental students towards social media use in dentistry were very positive in both countries. Students agreed that guiding patients online is a new responsibility for dentists in the digital age (86.4% of students in Malaysia and 73.4% in Finland). The findings indicate the existence of both benefits and dangers of social media on e-professionalism among students. There is a need to include robust digital professionalism awareness training for students.

Keywords: dentistry; dental education; dental students; professionalism; social media; Malaysia; Finland (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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