Internet Addiction Among Iranian Students of Medical Sciences

The cross-sectional survey was conducted on a random sample of 400 students. The self-administered questionnaire consisted of two sections: the first section was sociodemographic data, data about student's relations, and Internet use characteristics; the second part aimed at assessment of the level of IA using Young's 20-item scale for IA. Data analyzed in SPSS 20 at 0.05 significant level.

Results:

Considering their familiarity with the Internet, 80.3% stated personal experience and 12.3% individuals stated educational periods held outside the university. The most locations of using the Internet were dormitories (21.0%) and houses (43.5%). Concerning hours of Internet use, 45.2% used the Internet more than two hours per day. One hundred sixty-eight individuals (42.0%) stated that they used the Internet less than 15% for university activities. One hundred eighty-eight individuals (47.0%) used VPN and 75.5% were dissatisfied with Internet speed 61.2%. A total of 64.3% had a poor dependency on the Internet and the prevalence of IA was 3.5%. The mean score of IA questionnaire was 43.98 ± 15.92 from 125. The mean score of IA was higher in the male sex, but there was no significant correlation between sex and IA (p>0.05). There was not a significant correlation between the field of study and the year of entrance.

Conclusion:

The prevalence of Internet addiction among medical students was low. Identification of factors associated with IA can help in the planning of preventive programs to raise students’ knowledge about the hazards IA.

Keywords:
Internet-Based Intervention; Behavior, Addictive; Students, Medical

Variables	N	%
Gender
Male	155	38.8
Female	245	61.2
Field of Study
Medicine	128	32.0
Dentistry	122	30.5
Pharmacy	90	22.5
Nursing and Midwifery	36	9.1
Paramedical	24	6.0
Academic Year
First	50	115.0
Second	126	31.5
Third	52	13.0
Fourth	67	14.3
Fifth	57	14.3
Sixth	31	7.8
Seventh	7	1.8

Variables	N	%
Method Familiar to Internet
Out of University	49	12.3
In University	17	4.3
Self-Education	321	80.3
Others	6	1.5
No Answer	7	1.7
Access to Internet
Home	174	43.5
University	75	18.7
Coffee Net	13	3.3
Dormitory	84	21.0
Others	54	13.5
Daily Use of Internet
Less than Half of Hour	52	13.0
Two Hours	167	41.8
Greater than Two Hours	181	45.2
Use of Internet for University Homework
Less than 15%	168	42.0
15-35%	123	30.8
35-70%	67	16.7
Greater than 70%	22	5.5
No Answer	20	5.0
The Most Use Service
Advertising, Fun, Game	29	7.3
Searching	47	11.7
Social Media	324	81.0
Use of Internet for Scientific Topic
Yes	92	23.0
No	245	61.3
No Answer	63	15.7
Email Checking
Every Day	86	21.5
At Least One Time in a Week	220	55.0
Occasionally	94	23.5
Access to VPN
Yes	188	47.0
No	212	53.0
Satisfy with Internet Speed
Yes	97	24.3
No	303	75.7

Field of Study	Mean	SD	p-value
Medicine	42.23	14.47	0.57
Dentistry	44.25	14.73
Pharmacy	45.70	19.92
Nursing and Midwifery	43.54	17.36
Paramedical	43.33	15.10
Total	43.98	15.92

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[1] Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: Marzieh Karimi Afshar, Orthodontics Department, School of Dentistry, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Shafa Ave, Jomhoori Islami BLVD, Kerman 7618759689, Iran. Phone: +98 3432119021. E-mail: marzieh.k.afshar@gmail.com.