El uso de Twitter como herramienta docente para reforzar conceptos sobre el tratamiento del dolor en alumnos del grado de fisioterapia

Abstract

Introduction: Twitter is a social network used by millions of people that has become an important com-munication tool (Otsuka et al., 2014) and is considered one of the most prominent platforms in the worldof social networks (Alhabash & Ma, 2017). This network allows easy interaction through the publicationof opinions in a reduced format of 280 characters, and also uses keywords (hashtags) to organisetweets and facilitate the search for data (Otsuka et al., 2014). Twitter is more than an entertainment pla-tform, it works as a source of social interaction and information sharing (Alhabash & Ma, 2017), makingit a powerful tool for use as a teaching support. Aim: To assess the knowledge gained and perceivedsatisfaction of physiotherapy students with a Twitter discussion teaching activity on pain assessmentand management. Methodology: A quasi-experimental study is proposed to be carried out with a sam-ple of 40 physiotherapy students of 4th year. The students will be asked to participate in a debate onTwitter on the subject of assessment and management of patients with pain. The debate will take placeover the course of 2 months and will be moderated by a teacher who will explain in depth the 6 rulesfor participation. Once the debate is over, a short test will be used to check the knowledge acquired.Also, satisfaction with the activity will also be evaluated. Finally, by means of a focus group it will beassessed the experience itself through an interpretative phenomenological analysis. Discussion: It hasbeen shown that the use of Twitter in the educational context can increase learning capabilities (Maliket al., 2019) and favours engagement, motivation and collaboration between teachers and students(Desselle, 2017; Greenhalgh et al., 2016; Malik et al., 2019). Evidence supports its use in learningenvironments; however, we have no previous studies where the influence of Twitter as a learning stra-tegy in physiotherapy had been studied. We believe that the dynamics of Twitter will improve students’knowledge and ability to synthesize information about pain management. It is also possible that, beingan open network, it will encourage interaction with other researchers and specialists in the field.