Cyberchondria level and related factors in classroom teachers in Karsiyaka

CYBERCHONDRIA LEVEL AND RELATED FACTORS IN CLASSROOM TEACHERS IN KARSIYAKA Introduction and Aim: Increased health anxiety due to excessive exposure to medical information on the Internet is defined as cyberchondria. In addition to increasing health anxiety, it disrupts the functionality of individuals and decreases the quality of life, decreases the confidence of the doctors and increases the use of health services. Cyberchondria may be associated with difficulty in distinguishing the reliability of online information sources, and to make this distinction can affect individuals' educational level, ability to evaluate information and technological skills. The aim of this study was to determine the level of cyberchondria and to investigate the factors that might be associated with the level of cyberchondria Material and Methods: The target population of this cross-sectional study consisted of classroom teachers working in public primary schools in Karsıyaka district of Izmir The sample size was computed as 270 based on the target population of 538, confidence limit of 95%, sample error of 5%, 50% prevalence with 20% replacement. Response rate was 89.2%. The dependent variable of the study; the level of cyberchondria. Turkish Version of Cyberchondria Severity Scale Short Form (SCO-15) was used to measure the level of cyberchondria. The independent variables were grouped to five headlines; as socioeconomic and working variables, health status, health search behavior, internet usage variables and health literacy level. The questions in the questionnaire containing variables were filled in by self-report method. In the statistical analysis of collected data, a score indicating the coordination level was generated. In the determination of factors associated with coordination score; Student's T test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis test, Spearman correlation analysis was used. For the determination of the reliability of the developed scale; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated. Results: The mean age of the study group was 49.1±7.1 and 71.4% of the study group were female . 33% of the teachers had chronic disease and 4.1% had psychiatric disease. The mean score of the participants in health status was 78.2 (± 13.9). The primary source of health-related information was healthcare professionals (77.2% ) and internet was the second. (40.7%) The most reliable source of health related information was healthcare professionals (94.6%) followed by the Internet (35.3%). 21.6% of the participants went online to seek health information. The most prevalent purpose for health-related internet use was to search health / disease (29%) and to get doctor appointment (22.8%).The second purpose was to self-diagnose (23.2%). The scale had 33 ± 8.4 of mean total score. Health status, using internet for primary source of health-related information, spending more time on the internet for health-related information, seeking health/disease, self-diagnosing were found to be associated factors with cyberchondria scores. Conclusion: In this study, cyberchondria level of classroom teachers is moderate. Cyberchondria levels are higher who uses internet as primary source of health-related information, who spents more time on the internet, and those who searched the internet for health / disease research and who self-diagnose themselves. It should be provided by healthcare professionals to inform and advise internet users that the Internet is only a way of obtaining health-related information, not a self-diagnostic tool. Key Words: cyberchondria; health anxiety; teacher