Journal of General Practice

Internet Addiction Disorder among Medical Students in University of Kufa: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Shaymaa Abdul lteef Alfadhul, Huda Ghazi hameed and Salam Jasim Mohammed

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of internet addiction and some of the associated factors among medical students of the University of Kufa, and find its effect on academic performance.
Subjects & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted on 218 medical students selected throughouta systematic sampling method. A self- administered questionnaire was used for collection of data, its include three parts (demographic data, computer and internet use data, and Young Internet Addiction Test). The analysis of data was carried out using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Chi square test (X2-test), T-test, and binary logistic regression were used to investigate variables. The level of significance was considered as p-value ≤ 0.05.
Results: According to the results of Young Internet Addiction Test score, 44.5% of the participants had a mild internet addiction, 119 (54.6%) had a moderate internet addiction, and only 2 (0.9%) had a severe internet addiction. Further analysis using binary logistic regression revealed that spending time online for studying related purpose was a significant protective factor from internet addiction among participants (P<0.001,OR=0.975, 95% C.I=0.963-0.987).
Conclusions: High prevalence of internet addiction among medical students of Kufa University. Students who spend more time on the internet for educational purposes are protected from internet addiction. There is no significant association between internet addiction and academic performance of students.