Physiotherapy students’ trust in social-media physiotherapy influencers: implications for digital-literacy training in medical education

Physiotherapy students trust social-media influencers for professional knowledge, with platform use and perceived informativeness outweighing formal training in shaping this trust. To address this disconnect, medical-education programmes should move beyond traditional critical appraisal and embed authentic, influencer-based digital-literacy exercises that reflect students' real-world media habits and tackle credibility cues and commercial persuasion.