Evaluation of cyberchondry and health literacy levels in patients applied to a university hospital

Aim: Cyberchondria is generally defined as "having unfounded concern about the state of one's health by visiting health and medical websites". Health literacy is defined as the skills individuals have to seek, understand, evaluate and use health-related information and concepts in order to reduce health risks and increase their quality of life. The aim of this study is to determine the severity of cyberchondria and health literacy levels in patients admitted to Necmettin Erbakan University, Meram Faculty of Medicine, and to reveal the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics of patients and cyberchondria and health literacy. Materials and methods: This is a descriptive and cross-sectional study conducted between 2022-2023 academic years. A total of 381 patients, aged between 18-65 years, who applied to Meram Faculty of Medicine for any reason, were included in the study. Questionnaire forms were filled in by face-to-face interviews with the patients and obtaining their verbal consent. Survey form consisted of The sociodemographic information form, the Cyberchondria Severity Scale Short Form (CSS-12) and the Short-Form Health Literacy Instrument (HLS SF12). The obtained data were analyzed using SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows 22 program). A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: 32.54% (n=124) of the participants were male, 53.28% (n=203) were at college/university education level and 49.34% were still working. The mean age of the patients was 32.55±11.0 (min=18 max=65) years. 46.19% (n=176) of the participants stated that they requested test from their physician, and 46.71% (n=178) stated that their online health research increased due to COVID-19. The rate of those who always searched on the internet about their disease and complaints was 57.48% (n=219), while the rate of those who stated that they sometimes did research was 23.88% (n=70). The rate of those who did not trust the information about health on the internet was 33.85% (n=129), and the rate of those who were not sure was 48.81% (n=186). A total of 91.59% (n=349) of the patients were using social media. People who used the internet (p=0.011) than those who did not use the internet in choosing a hospital and doctor, those who applied to a surgical department (p=0.045) than those who applied to internal medicine departments, people who used the internet (p=0.011) than those who did not use the internet in choosing a hospital and doctor, people who did research (p<0.001) than those who did not research their complaint on the internet, had a higher score from the cyberchondria severity scale. Compared to those who did not trust information about health on the internet, people who relied on information on the internet (p<0.001), compared to those who did not want a test from their physician (p=0.010) people who requested the test, compared to others people who used drugs without the recommendation of a physician (p=0.002), had a higher score on the cyberchondria severity scale. People affected by COVID-19 (p<0.001) than those not affected by COVID-19, people who thought they had an undiagnosed disease (p=0.032) than those who did not think they had an undiagnosed disease, had a higher cyberchondria severity. Singles compared to married people (p=0.004), those who applied to an internal medicine department (p=0.022) compared to those who applied to surgical departments, those who thought they did not have an undiagnosed disease compared to those who thought they had those disease (p=0.002), who described their general health better than those who described it worse (p=0.004) was higher health literacy scores. There was a negative correlation between health literacy and cyberchondria severity at p=0.001 significance level and low degree (r=-0.165). Conclusion: There is a negative relationship between health literacy and cyberchondria, and we think that this relationship is largely due to information pollution on the internet. Health literacy was higher in those who better described their general health and thought they did not have a disease. In addition, health literacy; It was seen that it will increase with the decrease of cyberchondria and the early use of the internet. The best way to reduce cyberchondria is to increase health literacy, reduce internet use or encourage conscious use, learn/teach that the internet is not a reliable source of information, and increase trust in physicians. Keywords: Cyberchondria, health literacy, internet information pollution