Abstract

MEJIA, Christian R et al. Use of smartphones and Facebook associated with self-perception of academic performance among Peruvian medical students. Rev. cuba. inf. cienc. salud [online]. 2017, vol.28, n.1, pp.77-88. ISSN 2307-2113.

The purpose of the study was to determine the association between the use of smartphones and Facebook, and self-perception of academic performance among students from a medical school in the Peruvian highlands. A analytical cross-sectional prospective study was conducted with medical students from the Continental University in Huancayo, Peru. A survey was applied to measure the use of smartphones and Facebook, as well as perception of whether these tools improved academic performance. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis was conducted, using generalized linear models, with a p value of < 0.05 as statistically significant. The survey was given to 173 students, 61 % of whom (106) were women. Mean age was 21 years (interquartile range: 19-22 years). 76 % (131) stated that the smartphone improved their academic performance, which was positively related in the bivariate analysis to the number of smartphones and whether they contained training and medical applications, and negatively to the number of hours smartphones were used per week, whether they had Internet access, whether the Internet was accessed from the smartphone, the frequency of use of Facebook, the frequency with which entries were made in Facebook profiles, and the number of Facebook contacts (all with p values of < 0.05). In the adjusted multivariate analysis, the mean number of hours that the smartphone was used per week was negatively associated with the perception of improvement in academic performance (RPa: 0.98; CI 95 %: 0.97-0.99). Students perceive that academic performance worsens as the number of hours of use of smartphones per week increases. This fact should be further studied to quantify the actual decline in academic performance.

Keywords : smartphone; medical students; medical education; Facebook; learning.

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