TikTok as a teaching and learning method for nursing students: A quasi-experimental study

Background: Social networks have emerged as powerful tools in education, offering new opportunities for interactive learning. TikTok has gained popularity among young people and has potential for use as a teaching tool in health disciplines. Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program based on a multimodal intervention using the TikTok platform to improve theoretical-practical knowledge about diabetic debut and vaccination schedules and satisfaction in nursing students. Design: A quasi-experimental study design. Settings: Faculty of Nursing, University of Cadiz, Spain. Participants: 74 third-year undergraduate university nursing students. Methods: According to Kolb's experiential learning model, a multimodal educational intervention was carried out during the academic year 2022/2023, with 12 h of training. In these sessions, theoretical content on the vaccination calendar and diabetic debut was developed with written case studies. In the last session, 19 working groups were formed and each group was given a practical case study to solve through role-playing and creating a video in TikTok. A questionnaire to measure individual knowledge and a rubric questionnaire were used to evaluate the simulations in TikTok platform. Results: A significant improvement (z = 6.843, p < 0.001) was observed in the mean scores (9.93 +/- 1.65) of the posttest of the knowledge questionnaire, used to evaluate abstract conceptualisation abilities. Additionally, a mean score of 10.42 (SD = 1.42) of the items on the rubric questionnaire, designed to assess active experimentation and reflective observation abilities, were correctly performed. It stands out that 97.1 % of the students positively valued the elements of teaching innovation implemented, while 82.9 % showed a high level of satisfaction with their activity. Conclusion: A multimodal educational intervention using TikTok platform proved to be effective in improving the acquisition of theoretical-practical knowledge in the university students included in the study. Therefore, this type of experiential training is recommended for the training of future health professionals.