Loneliness and internet addiction in doctors and medical students: a cross-sectional study

Authors

  • Cüneyt Ardiç Department of Family Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey
  • Sibel İnecikli Rize Public Health Management, Rize, Turkey
  • Celile Hatipoğlu Denizli Community Health Center, Denizli, Turkey

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20181746

Keywords:

Internet addiction, Loneliness, Physicians, Medical students

Abstract

Background: Our aim in this study is to determine the level of internet addiction in medical school students and primary care physicians and the factors affecting them.

Methods: A 68 physicians and 167 students participated in this descriptive study. The participants were administered the young ınternet addiction test, UCLA loneliness scale and asked to respond to survey questions about their ssociodemographic characteristics, and the relations were evaluated with appropriate statistical methods.

Results: It has been identified that playing games online, surfing the internet aimlessly and loneliness score affected internet addiction regardless of other variables (p<0.05). A statistically significant correlation between addiction level and age (r= (-0.341), p<0,001), loneliness score (r=0,284, p<0,001) and online time (r=0,387, p<0,001) has been discovered.

Conclusions: In this study, it was found statistically significant that students with internet addiction stayed online for long periods of time and it seemed in line with the criteria observed in substance use disorders such as longer duration of use than intended and not being able to spare time for other activities.

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Published

2018-04-25

How to Cite

Ardiç, C., İnecikli, S., & Hatipoğlu, C. (2018). Loneliness and internet addiction in doctors and medical students: a cross-sectional study. International Journal of Research in Medical Sciences, 6(5), 1502–1508. https://doi.org/10.18203/2320-6012.ijrms20181746

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Original Research Articles