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Cyberchondria as Digital Psychopathology: Covid 19 Pandemic Example

Year 2022, Issue: 56, 185 - 202, 30.06.2022
https://doi.org/10.53568/yyusbed.1098125

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the behavior of individuals on a global scale. This study empirically analyzed the relationship between the stress and anxiety of the COVID-19 pandemic, hygiene and protection measures of young individuals, online medical information search and cyberchondria, and online medical support and assistance. Cross-sectional data obtained from 662 online surveys conducted with Atatürk University Communication Faculty students in 2021 were analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling. Study findings; The COVID-19 Pandemic revealed a positive and solid relationship (γ = 0.70; t = 14.26) between Anxiety and Stress and Personal Hygiene and Protection Measures. Furthermore, a positive and robust relationship was found between COVID-19 Pandemic Anxiety and Stress and Online Medical Information Searching on the Internet (γ = 0.42; t = 9.64), and it was also determined that there was a strong positive relationship between Online Medical Information Search on the Internet and Cyberchondria (γ = 0.72; t = 15.07). Finally, a positive and robust relationship was found between Medical Support and Expert Assistance and COVID-19 Pandemic Anxiety and Stress (γ = 0.45; t = 9.24).
The findings show that young individuals intensively use online medical information searches during the COVID-19 pandemic. This situation shows that this global epidemic has increased the behavior of cyberchondria and directed young individuals to seek medical support and personal protection measures. In addition, it is seen that people with high anxiety levels develop cyberchondria behaviors to protect themselves from the virus.

References

  • Bagarić, B. & Jokić-Begić, N., (2019). Cyberchondria–Health anxiety related to internet searching. Socijalna psihijatrija, 47(1), 28–50.
  • Baumgartner, S.E. & Hartmann, T., 2011. The role of health anxiety in online health information search. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Network. 14, 613-618.
  • Bentler, P. & Yuan, K. (1999). Structural equation modeling with small samples: Test statistics. Multivariate behavioral research, 34(2), 181-197.
  • Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, 395, 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8
  • Cheung, G., & Rensvold, R. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural equation modeling, 9(2), 233-255.
  • Emmanuel, U., Osondu, E. D., & Kalu, K. C. (2020). Architectural design strategies for infection prevention and control (IPC) in health-care facilities: towards curbing the spread of Covid-19. Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering, 1-9.
  • Fergus, T.A. (2013). Cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty: examining when individuals experience health anxiety inresponse to internet searches for medical information. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Network. 16, 735–739.
  • Fergus, T.A. (2014). The Cyberchondria Severity Scale(CSS): anexamination of structure and relations with health anxiety in a community sample. J. Anxiety Disord. 28, 504–510.
  • Güner, H. R., Hasanoğlu, İ., & Aktaş, F. (2020). COVID-19: Prevention and control measures in community. Turkish Journal of medical sciences, 50(SI-1), 571-577.
  • Harris, Poll (2010). “Cyberchondriacs” on the rise? Those who go online for healthcare information continues to increase. Available at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/HI-Harris-Poll-Cyberchondriacs-2010-08-04.pdf Retrieved on April 14, 2014.
  • Hershberger, S. L. (2003). The growth of structural equation modeling: 1994-2001. Structural Equation Modeling, 10(1), 35-46.
  • Hoyle, R. (2003). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. In Hoyle, R. (Ed.), The structural equation modeling approach (pp.1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.: Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications.
  • İlhan, M., & Çetin, B. (2014). Comparing the analysis results of the structural equation models (SEM) conducted using LISREL and AMOS. Journal of Measurement And Evaluatıon In Educatıon And Psychology-Epod, 5(2), 26-42.
  • Jokic-Begic, N., Lauri Korajlija, A. & Mikac, U., (2020). Cyberchondria in the age of COVID-19. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0243704. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243704 .
  • Jöreskok, K. & Sörbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
  • Kahn, J. H. (2006). Factor analysis in counseling psychology research, training, and practice: Principles, advances, and applications. The counseling psychologist, 34(5), 684-718.
  • Kalkanlı, A. A. (2021). Pandemi ve telesağlık uygulamaları. Sağlık Bilimleri ve Yaşam Dergisi, 5(1), 19-25.
  • Kampf, G., Todt, D., Pfaender, S. & Steinmann, E. (2020). Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents. Journal of Hospital Infection, 104(3), 246-251.
  • Le Roux, G. & Sinno-Tellier, S. (2020). French poison control centre members, Descatha A. COVID-19: Home poisoning throughout the containment period. Lancet Public Health, 5(6), e314, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30095-5.
  • Leech, N., Barrett, K., Morgam, G., Clay, J. & Quick, D. (2015). SPSS for intermediate statistics: Use and interpretation. New York: Routledge.
  • Lomax, R. & Schumacker, R. (2004). A beginner's guide to structural equation modeling. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Lukas, H., Xu, C., Yu, Y. & Gao, W. (2020). Emerging telemedicine tools for remote COVID-19 diagnosis, monitoring, and management. ACS nano, 14(12), 16180-16193.
  • Mann, D. M., Chen, J., Chunara, R., Testa, P. A. & Nov, O. (2020). COVID-19 transforms health care through telemedicine: evidence from the field. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(7), 1132-1135.
  • McDaid, D. & Park, A-L. (2010). Online health: untangling the web. Retrieved from http://www.bupa.com.au/staticfiles/Bupa/HealthAndWellness/MediaFiles/PDF/LSE_Report_Online_Health.pdf.
  • McElroy, E. & Shevlin, M. (2014). Disorders The development and ınitial validation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS). Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 28, 259–265.
  • Muse, K., McManus, F., Leung,C., Meghreblian, B. & Williams, J. M. G., (2012). Cyberchondriasis: factor fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health ınformation on the ınternet. J. Anxiety Disord, 26, 189–196.
  • Norr, A. M., Capron, D. W. & Schmidt, N. B., (2014). Medical information seeking: Impact on risk for anxiety psychopathology. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry, 45, 402–407.
  • Norr, A.M., Oglesby, M.E., Raines, A.M., Macatee, R.J., Allan, N.P. & Schmidt, N.B., (2015). Relationships between cyberchondria and obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions, Psychiatr. Res., 230 (2), 441–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.09.034.
  • Pituch, K., & Stevens, J. (2009). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. New York and London: Routledge.
  • Raykov, T. & Marcoulides, G. (2006). On multilevel model reliability estimation from the perspective of structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 13(1), 130-141.
  • Singer M., (2009). Pathogens gone wild? Medical anthropology and the “swine flu” pandemic. Med Anthropol, 28, 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740903070451 PMID: 20182961
  • Singh, J. & Brown, R. J., (2016). From headache to tumour: An examination of health anxiety, health-related ınternet use, and ‘queryescalation'. J. Health Psychol. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(9), 2008–2020, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105315569620.
  • Starcevic, V., (2017). Cyberchondria: challenges of problematic online searches for healthrelated information. Psychother. Psychosom, 86(3), 129–133. https://doi.org/10.1159/000465525.
  • Starcevic, V. & Berle, D., (2015). Cyberchondria: An old phenomenon in a new guise?. In Aboujaoude, E., Starcevic, V, (Ed.). Mental Health in The digital age grave dangers, great promise, (pp.106-118). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Stone, J. & Sharpe, M., (2003). Internet resources for psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 74, 10–12.
  • Tabachnick, B., Fidell, L. & Ulman, J. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Taylor, S., (2019). The psychology of pandemics: preparing for the next global outbreak of infectious disease. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Weston, R. & Gore, J. (2006). A brief guide to structural equation modeling. The counseling psychologist, 34(5), 719-751.
  • World Health Organization, (2020). Munich security conference. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/munich-security-conference.
  • World Health Organization, (2019). Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Situation Report 13, Retrieved from www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200202-sitrep13-ncov-v3.pdf .

Dijital Psikopatoloji Olarak Siberkondri: Covid 19 Pandemisi Örneği

Year 2022, Issue: 56, 185 - 202, 30.06.2022
https://doi.org/10.53568/yyusbed.1098125

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemisi küresel ölçekte bireylerin davranışlarını etkilemiştir. Bu çalışma COVID-19 pandemisi stres ve kaygısının; genç bireylerin hijyen ve korunma tedbirlerini, internetten çevrimiçi tıbbi bilgi arama ve siberkondri ile çevrimiçi tıbbi destek ve yardım arasındaki ilişkiyi ampirik olarak analiz etmeyi amaçlamıştır. Atatürk Üniversitesi İletişim Fakültesi öğrencileriyle 2021 yılında yapılan çevrimiçi 662 anket çalışmasından elde edilen kesit veriler Yapısal Eşitlik Modellemesi ile analiz edilmiştir. Çalışma bulguları; COVID-19 Pandemisi Kaygı ve Stresi ile Kişisel Hijyen ve Korunma Tedbirleri arasında pozitif yönde ve çok güçlü bir ilişkinin varlığını (γ = 0.70; t = 14.26) ortaya koymuştur. COVID-19 Pandemisi Kaygı ve Stresi ile İnternette Çevrimiçi Tıbbi Bilgi Arama arasında pozitif yönde ve güçlü bir ilişki tespit edilmiştir (γ = 0.42; t = 9.64) ve İnternette Çevrimiçi Tıbbi Bilgi Arama ile Siberkondri arasında pozitif yönde çok güçlü bir ilişkinin olduğu da ortaya çıkmıştır (γ = 0.72; t = 15.07). Son olarak Tıbbi Destek ve Uzman Yardımı ile COVID-19 Pandemisi Kaygı ve Stresi arasında pozitif yönde ve güçlü bir ilişki tespit edilmiştir (γ = 0.45; t = 9.24).
Bu çalışmada COVID-19 pandemisi sürecinde genç bireylerin çevrimiçi tıbbi bilgi arayışlarını yoğun bir şekilde kullandıkları bulgulanmaktadır. Bu durum genç bireyleri tıbbi destek alma ve kişisel korunma tedbirlerine yönelttiği gibi bu küresel salgının siberkondri davranışını artırdığını da göstermektedir. Özellikle kaygı seviyesi yüksek kişilerin virüsten korunmak için siberkondri davranışlarını geliştirdikleri görülmektedir.

References

  • Bagarić, B. & Jokić-Begić, N., (2019). Cyberchondria–Health anxiety related to internet searching. Socijalna psihijatrija, 47(1), 28–50.
  • Baumgartner, S.E. & Hartmann, T., 2011. The role of health anxiety in online health information search. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Network. 14, 613-618.
  • Bentler, P. & Yuan, K. (1999). Structural equation modeling with small samples: Test statistics. Multivariate behavioral research, 34(2), 181-197.
  • Brooks, S. K., Webster, R. K., Smith, L. E., Woodland, L., Wessely, S., Greenberg, N., & Rubin, G. J. (2020). The psychological impact of quarantine and how to reduce it: Rapid review of the evidence. Lancet, 395, 912–920. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30460-8
  • Cheung, G., & Rensvold, R. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural equation modeling, 9(2), 233-255.
  • Emmanuel, U., Osondu, E. D., & Kalu, K. C. (2020). Architectural design strategies for infection prevention and control (IPC) in health-care facilities: towards curbing the spread of Covid-19. Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering, 1-9.
  • Fergus, T.A. (2013). Cyberchondria and intolerance of uncertainty: examining when individuals experience health anxiety inresponse to internet searches for medical information. Cyberpsychol. Behav. Soc. Network. 16, 735–739.
  • Fergus, T.A. (2014). The Cyberchondria Severity Scale(CSS): anexamination of structure and relations with health anxiety in a community sample. J. Anxiety Disord. 28, 504–510.
  • Güner, H. R., Hasanoğlu, İ., & Aktaş, F. (2020). COVID-19: Prevention and control measures in community. Turkish Journal of medical sciences, 50(SI-1), 571-577.
  • Harris, Poll (2010). “Cyberchondriacs” on the rise? Those who go online for healthcare information continues to increase. Available at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/HI-Harris-Poll-Cyberchondriacs-2010-08-04.pdf Retrieved on April 14, 2014.
  • Hershberger, S. L. (2003). The growth of structural equation modeling: 1994-2001. Structural Equation Modeling, 10(1), 35-46.
  • Hoyle, R. (2003). Structural equation modeling: Concepts, issues, and applications. In Hoyle, R. (Ed.), The structural equation modeling approach (pp.1-16). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.: Structural Equation Modeling: Concepts, Issues, and Applications.
  • İlhan, M., & Çetin, B. (2014). Comparing the analysis results of the structural equation models (SEM) conducted using LISREL and AMOS. Journal of Measurement And Evaluatıon In Educatıon And Psychology-Epod, 5(2), 26-42.
  • Jokic-Begic, N., Lauri Korajlija, A. & Mikac, U., (2020). Cyberchondria in the age of COVID-19. PLoS ONE 15(12): e0243704. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0243704 .
  • Jöreskok, K. & Sörbom, D. (1993). LISREL 8: Structural equation modeling with the SIMPLIS command language. Chicago: Scientific Software International.
  • Kahn, J. H. (2006). Factor analysis in counseling psychology research, training, and practice: Principles, advances, and applications. The counseling psychologist, 34(5), 684-718.
  • Kalkanlı, A. A. (2021). Pandemi ve telesağlık uygulamaları. Sağlık Bilimleri ve Yaşam Dergisi, 5(1), 19-25.
  • Kampf, G., Todt, D., Pfaender, S. & Steinmann, E. (2020). Persistence of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces and their inactivation with biocidal agents. Journal of Hospital Infection, 104(3), 246-251.
  • Le Roux, G. & Sinno-Tellier, S. (2020). French poison control centre members, Descatha A. COVID-19: Home poisoning throughout the containment period. Lancet Public Health, 5(6), e314, https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30095-5.
  • Leech, N., Barrett, K., Morgam, G., Clay, J. & Quick, D. (2015). SPSS for intermediate statistics: Use and interpretation. New York: Routledge.
  • Lomax, R. & Schumacker, R. (2004). A beginner's guide to structural equation modeling. New York: Psychology Press.
  • Lukas, H., Xu, C., Yu, Y. & Gao, W. (2020). Emerging telemedicine tools for remote COVID-19 diagnosis, monitoring, and management. ACS nano, 14(12), 16180-16193.
  • Mann, D. M., Chen, J., Chunara, R., Testa, P. A. & Nov, O. (2020). COVID-19 transforms health care through telemedicine: evidence from the field. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 27(7), 1132-1135.
  • McDaid, D. & Park, A-L. (2010). Online health: untangling the web. Retrieved from http://www.bupa.com.au/staticfiles/Bupa/HealthAndWellness/MediaFiles/PDF/LSE_Report_Online_Health.pdf.
  • McElroy, E. & Shevlin, M. (2014). Disorders The development and ınitial validation of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS). Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 28, 259–265.
  • Muse, K., McManus, F., Leung,C., Meghreblian, B. & Williams, J. M. G., (2012). Cyberchondriasis: factor fiction? A preliminary examination of the relationship between health anxiety and searching for health ınformation on the ınternet. J. Anxiety Disord, 26, 189–196.
  • Norr, A. M., Capron, D. W. & Schmidt, N. B., (2014). Medical information seeking: Impact on risk for anxiety psychopathology. J. Behav. Ther. Exp. Psychiatry, 45, 402–407.
  • Norr, A.M., Oglesby, M.E., Raines, A.M., Macatee, R.J., Allan, N.P. & Schmidt, N.B., (2015). Relationships between cyberchondria and obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions, Psychiatr. Res., 230 (2), 441–446. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2015.09.034.
  • Pituch, K., & Stevens, J. (2009). Applied multivariate statistics for the social sciences. New York and London: Routledge.
  • Raykov, T. & Marcoulides, G. (2006). On multilevel model reliability estimation from the perspective of structural equation modeling. Structural Equation Modeling, 13(1), 130-141.
  • Singer M., (2009). Pathogens gone wild? Medical anthropology and the “swine flu” pandemic. Med Anthropol, 28, 199–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/01459740903070451 PMID: 20182961
  • Singh, J. & Brown, R. J., (2016). From headache to tumour: An examination of health anxiety, health-related ınternet use, and ‘queryescalation'. J. Health Psychol. Journal of Health Psychology, 21(9), 2008–2020, http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1359105315569620.
  • Starcevic, V., (2017). Cyberchondria: challenges of problematic online searches for healthrelated information. Psychother. Psychosom, 86(3), 129–133. https://doi.org/10.1159/000465525.
  • Starcevic, V. & Berle, D., (2015). Cyberchondria: An old phenomenon in a new guise?. In Aboujaoude, E., Starcevic, V, (Ed.). Mental Health in The digital age grave dangers, great promise, (pp.106-118). New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Stone, J. & Sharpe, M., (2003). Internet resources for psychiatry and neuropsychiatry. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry, 74, 10–12.
  • Tabachnick, B., Fidell, L. & Ulman, J. (2007). Using multivariate statistics. Boston, MA: Pearson.
  • Taylor, S., (2019). The psychology of pandemics: preparing for the next global outbreak of infectious disease. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Weston, R. & Gore, J. (2006). A brief guide to structural equation modeling. The counseling psychologist, 34(5), 719-751.
  • World Health Organization, (2020). Munich security conference. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/dg/speeches/detail/munich-security-conference.
  • World Health Organization, (2019). Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV). Situation Report 13, Retrieved from www.who.int/docs/default-source/coronaviruse/situation-reports/20200202-sitrep13-ncov-v3.pdf .
There are 40 citations in total.

Details

Primary Language English
Journal Section Issue
Authors

Ömer Alanka 0000-0002-5558-1848

Ülhak Çimen 0000-0002-7307-4874

Fatih Değirmenci 0000-0002-5589-3331

Publication Date June 30, 2022
Submission Date April 4, 2022
Published in Issue Year 2022 Issue: 56

Cite

APA Alanka, Ö., Çimen, Ü., & Değirmenci, F. (2022). Cyberchondria as Digital Psychopathology: Covid 19 Pandemic Example. Yüzüncü Yıl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, -(56), 185-202. https://doi.org/10.53568/yyusbed.1098125

Journal of Yüzüncü Yıl University Graduate School of Social Sciences is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC).