Environmental and Occupational Health Students’ Attitudes Toward Social Media in Online Learning During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Background: Individuals engaged in education and health currently during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic find it urgent to avail themselves of high-speed communication and information technology. Objectives: This survey was conducted to investigate the attitudes of environmental and occupational health students toward Social Media (SM) use in online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which its population consisted of 375 environmental and occupational health students studying at Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran, in the academic year 2020-2021. The present study followed a quantitative design using the Social Media Attitude Scale designed by Otrar and Argin. The data were analyzed using SPSS software (version 26) and paired t-test. Results: The participants were within the age range of 18-46 years, and 64.8% of them were female. Instagram was the most popular SM (frequency of use: 40%). Twitter (27%), Facebook (20%), and LinkedIn (13%) were placed in the next ranks. The need for sharing (61.4±14.93) was the most preferred dimension of SM. Social competence (54.23±5.17), social isolation (51.33±4.43), and relationship with teachers (40.63±9.7) were placed in the next ranks. Moreover, there was no significant difference between environmental and occupational health students’ attitudes toward SM (P 0.01). Conclusion: Medical universities can use SM for educational purposes by designing a forum for study or helping students with health skills. However, researchers should be aware of health science students’ attitudes toward SM before developing such programs.