Title: Perception of social media use in disseminating health-related academic information in public health schools in Minna, Nigeria

Authors: Evelyn Halima Musa; Abdulhameed Kayode Agboola

Addresses: Department of Information and Media Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria ' Department of Information and Media Technology, Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria

Abstract: This study examined the use of social media among students at health schools in Minna to exchange health-related information. In order to obtain data from simple random samples of 344 respondents, the study used survey questionnaires. The rate of response was 100%. Findings found that the most used social media platforms for contact were Facebook (79.9%), WhatsApp (65.5%) and Twitter (34.3%). The research study also found that (79.8%) of student respondents benefited significantly from using social media to disseminate health-related information and preferred to communicate these health information through video, audio, and mobile phone text formats to them. The study concludes that low network coverage, high data subscription rates, high smartphone costs and epileptic power supply have an effect on access to social media at Minna health schools. The study recommended that lecturers, students, researchers and health care instructors should disseminate health related information using social media tools based on its effectiveness.

Keywords: social media; health information; information dissemination; social network; smart phones; data subscription; epileptic power; network coverage; health communication; internet access.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEH.2020.113199

International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, 2020 Vol.11 No.2, pp.170 - 186

Received: 30 Nov 2019
Accepted: 13 Nov 2020
Published online: 23 Feb 2021 *

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