Comparing The Effect of Discussion Through Social Media and Conventional Group Discussion On Knowledge, Attitude and Health Behavior of Girl Adolescents

The main objective of this study was to compare learning health knowledge, attitude, and behavior through social media discussion vs classroom discussion. In this experimental design with control group, 40 girl students in 7th grade of secondary schools in Abadan were selected with cluster sampling and group's random assignment experimental and control. The experimental group received five sessions of presentations in class plus five groups discussion via social media. the control group received same instruction through classroom presentation and discussion. A researcher-made questionnaire was used. Questionnaire validity was confirmed by experts. Its reliability was approved by Cronbach test (calculated alpha for knowledge, attitudes, and behavior subscale was 0.73, 0.81, and 0.90). The pre-test and post-test data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) method. Results showed significant differences between experimental and control groups on health knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. It revealed that for adolescents’ health education, discussion thorough social media is more effective than classroom discussion.