Differences in Cyberchondria, Internet Addiction, Anxiety Sensitivity, Health Anxiety, and Coronavirus Anxiety Among Students: A Web-Based Comparative Survey
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Majd T Mrayyan 1 2 , Sami Al-Rawashdeh 1 * , Abdallah Abu Khait 1 , Majdi Rababa 3
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1 Department of Community and Mental Health, Faculty of Nursing, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, JORDAN2 Advanced Nursing Department, F aculty of Nursing, Isra University, P.O. Box 33 and 22 Isra University Office 11622 by Queen Alia International Airport, Amman, JORDAN3 Department of Adult Health Nursing, The Hashemite University, P.O. Box 330127, Zarqa 13133, JORDAN* Corresponding Author

Abstract

Background: Students’ health-related anxiety may exacerbate cyberchondria and internet addiction (IA), especially during pandemics such as the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, the associations of students’ demographic and academic characteristics with cyberchondria, anxiety, and IA have not yet been examined.
Aim: The present study aimed to compare university-level students’ scores in cyberchondria, IA, and anxiety (i.e. anxiety sensitivity, health anxiety, and coronavirus anxiety) based on students’ characteristics of number of years online, grade point average (GPA), the field of study, year of study, gender, and the availability of Internet access at school.
Methods: Data were collected using valid questionnaires from 143 university-level students via a web-based survey.
Results: Cyberchondria levels were moderate, IA mild, anxiety sensitivity low, health anxiety typical, and coronavirus anxiety functional. No significant differences in the total scores of the compared variables were noted between the compared groups. However, some individual items differed, as follows: 1) Cyberchondria differed according to the student’s GPA and the availability of the Internet access at school and 2) IA differed according to all characteristics; and 3) anxiety sensitivity and health anxiety differed according to students’ GPA.
Conclusions: The students did not demonstrate high levels of cyberchondria, IA, anxiety sensitivity, or anxiety caused by searching for online health information. Conceptual differences in the concepts can be used in designing interventions to help students prevent and manage such challenges and address avoidance behaviors.

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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Article Type: Original Article

ELECTRON J GEN MED, Volume 19, Issue 3, June 2022, Article No: em371

https://doi.org/10.29333/ejgm/11876

Publication date: 07 Mar 2022

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