Abstract
Background: A survey was distributed amongst all the chiropractic students at the University of
Johannesburg, this research study was intended to determine the chiropractic students’
attitudes toward information literacy, information and communications technology related to literacy,
information and communications technology related to utilization and media literacy. The number of
chiropractic students at the University of Johannesburg at the time this study was distributed was
244 students across first year BHSc to second year MHSc. The students within these programmes
were given the opportunity to complete the anonymous survey.
Aim: The main purpose of this research study was to investigate the digital literacy skills of the
chiropractic learners at the University of Johannesburg.
Research Methodology: A quantitative, cross-sectional exploratory descriptive survey study
was conducted in order to establish the digital literacy skills of the chiropractic learners at
the University of Johannesburg. A pilot study was used to test the survey before beginning the
data collection. Participants were recruited at the University of Johannesburg after permission
from the institution, head of department and the original authors of the survey was granted. The
information letter, consent form and survey were circulated and completed on the platform
Google Forms. The survey was anonymous, and the respondents were able to withdraw from the
study at any time before they completed the survey. As soon as the data collection was concluded,
a statistician was consulted in order to aid with the data analysis.
Results: On the whole, the participants generally agreed to all the questions within the four constructs:
information literacy, information and communications technology literacy,
information and communications technology utilization and media literacy. The results revealed
that the n=141 (57.78%) chiropractic students at the University of Johannesburg that
participated in the study possessed information literacy, information and communications
technology literacy, information and communications technology utilization and media literacy
skills. Additionally, it was found that neither the views of the three distinct age groups (18-24,
25-30 and 31+) nor the perceptions of the male and female chiropractic students about the four
constructs differed significantly. The opinions of the several research years (first year BHSc, second
year BHSc, third year BHSc, fourth year BHSc, first year MHSc and second year MHSc)
regarding information literacy, but not regarding the other three constructs, varied significantly.
VII
Conclusion: In conclusion, the research study conducted on chiropractic students at the University of
Johannesburg revealed that the participants possessed information literacy, information
and communications technology literacy, information and communications technology utilization,
and media literacy skills. The findings indicated a general agreement among the students in all
four constructs. The participants showed a high level of agreement in their ability to find, use,
and evaluate information (information literacy), use technology to support information delivery
(information and communications technology literacy), make effective use of technology
(information and communications technology utilization), and think critically about media content
(media literacy). The study found no significant differences in perceptions based on age, gender,
or year of study, except for information literacy where some variations were observed. These results
suggested that the chiropractic students at the University of Johannesburg have a solid foundation in
digital literacy skills.