Social Media Used and Teaching Methods Preferred by Generation Z Students in the Nursing Clinical Learning Environment: A Cross-Sectional Research Study

Abstract

Generation Z nursing students have a distinctive combination of attitudes, beliefs, social norms, and behaviors that will modify education and the nursing profession. This cross-sectional research study aimed to explore the social media use and characteristics of Generation Z in nursing students and to identify what were the most useful and preferred teaching methods during clinical training. Participants were Generation Z nursing degree students from a Spanish Higher Education Institution. A 41-item survey was developed and validated by an expert panel. The consecutive sample consisted of 120 students. Participants used social media for an average of 1.37 h (SD = 1.15) for clinical learning. They preferred, as teaching methods, linking mentorship learning to clinical experiences (x¯ = 3.51, SD = 0.88), online tutorials or videos (x¯ = 3.22, SD = 0.78), interactive gaming (x¯ = 3.09, SD = 1.14), and virtual learning environments (x¯ = 3, SD = 1.05). Regarding generational characteristics, the majority either strongly agreed or agreed with being high consumers of technology and cravers of the digital world (90.1%, n = 108 and 80%, n = 96). The authors consider it essential to expand our knowledge about the usefulness or possible use of teaching methods during clinical learning, which is essential at this moment because of the rapidly changing situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Keywords: Generation Z; clinical learning environment; nursing education; social media; teaching methods.