Social media usage characteristics of family physicians and the place of social media in their professional lives

Aim: Developing technology and increasing needs enabled the development of new communication tools such as social networks. The social media environment is important in terms of bringing the masses together and increasing the interaction. Today, social media has become an important source of health information of the society and an increasingly used tool for physician-patient communication.The size of this use, the factors affecting its use, and guidelines on proper use have also been brought into the agenda of healthcare professionals. The aim of this study is to determine the social media usage characteristics and the place of professional physicians working in İzmir city center. Methods:The study, which was planned as a cross-sectional analytical study, was carried out with 259 family physicians working in family health centers between December 2018 and January 2019 in İzmir city center. A 47-question questionnaire including sociodemographic characteristics of family physicians, social media use status, and attitudes and behaviors related to social media use prepared using the literature was applied. The findings were evaluated in SPSS 22.0 program using chi-square, t test and ANOVA tests and p <0.05 was accepted for statistical significance. Results: Of the attending physicians 51.7% were male and mean age was 49.5±7.68. Among them 94.2% used social media, while 83.8% stated that they use social media every day. Social media platforms that family physicians use most frequently were Whatsapp (81.1%), Facebook (73.7%), Youtube (57.9%). The most frequently used social media platforms for professional purposes were Whatsapp (%64.1), Facebook (49.4%), Youtube (39.8%) and %53.7 used less than 25% of their time on social media for professional purposes. Attitude scores of participants using social media (52.78±8.03) were significantly higher than those who did not use (34.86±8.33) (p <0.001). Those who spend less than 1 hour a day on social media (attitude score=51.37±7.71; behavior score=45.42±11.67), those who spend more than 5 hours (attitude score=58.60±8.77; behavior score=51.70±11.35), they scored significantly lower (p=0.004; p=0.003) attitude and behavior score. As the share of time spent for professional purposes on social media increased, a significant (p<0.001%) increase in behavioral scores (<25% = 45.70 ± 9.84;> 75% = 55.67 ± 15.26) was determined. While the majority of physicians respond 'Always' (n=86, 33.2%) to the proposition that 'I am concerned about the privacy of my patients in the use of social media for professional purposes', 'I make appointments to my patients through social platforms' (n=150; 61.5%), 'Never 'answered. Conclusions: Social media usage rates of family physicians are high, but their use for professional purposes is low. Family physicians should be informed about appropriate platforms for professional use of social media by family physicians, recommended rules to be followed and individual policy options.This will both ensure effective and appropriate use and prevent worries. Keywords: social media, family physicians, social media using for proffesional purposes