Current Uses (and Potential Misuses) of Facebook: An Online Survey in Physiotherapy.

PURPOSE: In recent years, the use of social media such as Facebook has become extremely popular and widespread in our society. Among users are health care professionals, who must develop ways to extend their professionalism online. Before issuing formal guidelines, policies, or recommendations to guide online behaviours, there is a need to know to what extent Facebook influences the professional life of physiotherapy professionals. Our goal was to explore knowledge and behaviour that physiotherapists and physical rehabilitation therapists practicing in Quebec have of Facebook. METHOD: We used an empirical cross-sectional online survey design (n=322, response rate 4.5%). RESULTS: The results showed that 84.3% of physiotherapy professionals had a Facebook account. Almost all had colleagues or former colleagues as Facebook friends, 21% had patients as friends, and 27% had employers as friends. More than a third of workplaces had clinic pages with information intended for the public. Regarding workplace Facebook policies, 37.3% said that there was no policy and another 41.6% were not aware whether there was one or not. CONCLUSION: There appears to be a need to establish guidelines regarding the use of social media for physiotherapy professionals to ensure maintenance of professionalism and ethical conduct.

Objectif : La popularité des médias sociaux comme Facebook est en plein essor depuis les dernières années. Actuellement, les professionnels de la physiothérapie font face au défi de la navigation, puisqu'il n'existe aucun guide clair pour orienter leurs actions en ligne. Avant d'émettre des recommandations de bonne pratique, il est essentiel de connaitre l'impact de Facebook dans la pratique professionnelle en physiothérapie. Ce projet de recherche vise à explorer les connaissances et les comportements sur Facebook des professionnels québécois de la physiothérapie. Méthode : Nous avons fait parvenir un sondage transversal en ligne à des professionnels de la physiothérapie afin de connaître leur utilisation de Facebook (n=322, taux de réponse 4,5%). Résultats : Les résultats ont montré que 84,3% des professionnels de la physiothérapie avaient un compte Facebook. Les participants ont presque tous comme amis Facebook des collègues ou d'anciens collègues, 21% ont des patients et 27% ont des employeurs. Plus d'un tiers des cliniques de physiothérapie ont des pages Facebook avec de l'information destinée au public. En ce qui concerne les politiques d'utilisation de Facebook sur les lieux de travail, 37,3% des participants disent qu'il n'en existe pas et 41,6% ne savent pas s'il en existe ou non. Conclusions : Il semble nécessaire d'établir des recommandations destinées aux professionnels de la physiothérapie concernant leur utilisation des médias sociaux afin d'assurer le maintien d'un comportement professionnel et éthique.

Validity of the language development survey in infants born preterm.

BACKGROUND: Preterm infants are at greater risk of language delay. Early identification of language delay is essential to improve functional outcome in these children. AIM: To examine the concurrent validity of Rescorla's Language Development Survey and the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) at 18months corrected age in preterm infants. STUDY DESIGN: Test accuracy study. PARTICIPANTS: 189 preterm infants born <29weeks were assessed at 18months. OUTCOME MEASURES: The Language Development Survey, a parent-reported screening instrument, was administered in French concurrently with the Language Scales of the Bayley-III. Receiver-Operating-Characteristics curves were used to determine optimal cut-off score on the Language Development Survey to identify Bayley-III score <85. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and κ coefficient were calculated. RESULTS: Using Rescorla's original cut-off scores of ≤10 words for boys and ≤24 for girls, sensitivity was 76% and 88% for boys and girls, respectively, and specificity was 73% and 52% for boys and girls, respectively, in identifying language delay as per the Bayley-III. The optimal threshold was ≤10 words for both boys and girls. In girls, lowering the cut-off score decreased sensitivity (79%), but improved specificity (82%), thus lowering the number of false-positives. CONCLUSION: Our findings support using the Language Development Survey as an expressive language screener in preterm infants.