This study investigated the use of instant messaging in the school-to-work transition, a crucial stage of learning and development. Newly graduated health professionals (n = 235) participated either in WhatsApp groups in which moderators shared knowledge and facilitated professional discussions or in the control group. The results show that participants in the WhatsApp groups had markedly higher levels of knowledge, greater resilience as well as lower levels of professional isolation– in comparison with the control group. They also reported less stress when searching for a new job. These findings are affirmed by the qualitative analysis of open survey questions: knowledge acquisition emerged as the main benefit followed by connectedness and professional informational benefits. A further interesting result is that the general, day-to-day use of WhatsApp outside of the intervention was linked to higher levels of resilience.

Another finding is that although the actual (measured) and self-reported frequency of participation in the WhatsApp groups correlated highly, these measures did not predict the outcome variables in the regression analysis. This observation questions the frequency of participation as a proxy for the success of engagement.

这项研究调查了在学校到工作的过渡过程中即时消息的使用，这是学习和发展的关键阶段。新近毕业的卫生专业人员（n = 235）参加了由主持人共享知识并促进专业讨论的WhatsApp组，或参加了对照组。结果表明，与对照组相比，WhatsApp组的参与者具有更高的知识水平，更大的应变能力以及更低的专业隔离水平。他们还发现寻找新工作时的压力较小。对公开调查问题的定性分析证实了这些发现：知识获取是主要的收益，其次是联系和专业信息收益。另一个有趣的结果是，在干预之外普遍使用WhatsApp可以提高弹性。

另一个发现是，尽管WhatsApp组的实际（测得）和自我报告的参与频率具有高度相关性，但这些测度并未在回归分析中预测结果变量。该观察结果质疑参与的频率作为参与成功的代理。