A study on internet addiction among medical students in a tertiary care hospital in Bangalore, India

Authors

  • Raj Lavadi Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2801-6472
  • Mangala Subramanian Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Meghana Panchaseelan Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Lakshmi Chintala Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Lalasa Reddy Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Megha Dhananjay Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India
  • Supriya Acharya Department of Community Medicine, Vydehi Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Center, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211943

Keywords:

Internet addiction, Medical students, Dr Kimberely Young

Abstract

Background: Internet usage is prevalent among medical students as they utilize it for both study purposes as well as for entertainment. Widespread usage of the internet may lead to its addiction. The objective of the study was to determine the prevalence of internet addiction and identify its contributing factors among medical students.

Methods: 239 second and third year medical students completed the internet addiction test as well as the supplementary questionnaire at Vydehi institute of medical sciences and research center. The assessment of addiction was performed using Dr. Kimberley Young's internet addiction test.

Results: It was found that 120 (50.2%) students were mildly addicted and 39 (16.3%) students were moderately addicted and 1 (0.42%) student was severely addicted.

Conclusions: 66.9% of medical students had various levels of internet addiction from mild to severe. Therefore, behavior change communication is required to overcome addiction in these students.

 

References

Bell CC. DSM-IV: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. JAMA. 1994;272(10):828-9.

Block JJ. Issues for DSM-V: internet addiction. Am J Psychiat. 2008;165(3):306-7.

Mohammadbeigi A, Hashiani A, Ghamari F, Mohammadsalehi N. Internet addiction and modeling its risk factors in medical students, Iran. Ind J Psychol Med. 2011;33(2):158.

O'Keeffe GS, Clarke-Pearson K, Council on Communications and Media. The impact of social media on children, adolescents, and families. Pediatrics. 2011;127(4):800-4.

Kannan S, Arora A, Gowri S, Choudhary S, Sudarasanan S, Khosla P. Substance abuse amongst the medical graduate students in a developing country. Ind J Med Res. 2016;143(1):101-3.

American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 5th ed. Arlington VA: American Psychiatric Publishing; 2013: 796.

Ranganatha SC, Usha S. Prevalence and pattern of internet addiction among medical students, Bengaluru. Int J Comm Med Pub Health. 2017;4(12):4680-4.

Chaudhari B, Menon P, Saldanha D, Tewari A, Bhattacharya L. Internet addiction and its determinants among medical students. Indust Psychiat J. 2015;24(2):158-62.

Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Fact sheet: Net Addiction. Available at: http://netaddiction.com/ internet-addiction-test/. Accessed on 5 April 2021.

Kato T, Shinfuku N, Tateno M. Internet society, internet addiction, and pathological social withdrawal: the chicken and egg dilemma for internet addiction and hikikomori. Curr Opin Psychiat. 2020;33(3):264-70.

Gupta R, Taneja N, Anand T, Gupta A, Gupta R, Jha D, et al. Internet addiction, sleep quality and depressive symptoms amongst medical students in Delhi, India. Community Ment Health J. 2021;57(4):771-6.

Alsaad S, Almukhtar N. Quality of life in medical students with internet addiction. J Fam Med Prim Care. 2020;9(11):5736-40.

Downloads

Published

2021-05-25

How to Cite

Lavadi, R., Subramanian, M., Panchaseelan, M., Chintala, L., Reddy, L., Dhananjay, M., & Acharya, S. (2021). A study on internet addiction among medical students in a tertiary care hospital in Bangalore, India. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 8(6), 2995–2998. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211943

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles