The Relationship Between Digital Literacy Skills and WhatsApp Group Use in Internal Communication Among Nurses

The purpose of this study was to examine the internal communication methods used by nurses, examine their WhatsApp group usage habits, and explore the relationship between these habits and their digital literacy skills. A descriptive and correlational design was adopted to examine associations between variables at a single point in time. Data were collected from 326 nurses working at a university hospital between March and December 2024 via both online and paper-based questionnaires and were analyzed using SPSS 25 software. Findings revealed that WhatsApp was among the most frequently used internal communication tools, ranking after face-to-face communication and mobile phone calls. While all participants reported using WhatsApp in general, 98.8% were members of a department-specific WhatsApp group used for internal communication. Among the participants, 80.4% reported being satisfied with WhatsApp-based communication, and 79.8% believed it had a positive effect on departmental communication. The use of WhatsApp groups varied significantly according to nurses’ positions, work patterns, departments, and length of employment. Ordinal logistic regression analysis demonstrated that higher digital literacy scores were significantly associated with greater odds of reporting satisfaction with WhatsApp group use and a positive perceived effect on communication. These findings underscore the potential value of digital literacy training and clear institutional guidelines for the appropriate use of WhatsApp groups in internal communication.