TY - JOUR T1 - Cyberchondrıa in Care Personnel TT - Bakım Personellerinde Siberkondri AU - Hastaoğlu, Fatma AU - Çelik, Pelin PY - 2025 DA - September Y2 - 2025 DO - 10.51972/tfsd.1758002 JF - Turkish Journal of Science and Health JO - TFSD PB - Ümit Muhammet KOÇYİĞİT WT - DergiPark SN - 2717-7173 SP - 235 EP - 241 VL - 6 IS - 3 LA - en AB - Purpose: This descriptive study aimed to investigate the levels of cyberchondria among care personnel working in institutional settings. Material and Methods: The study included 93 personnel from care centers in Sivas province, Türkiye. No sampling method was employed; all personnel meeting the inclusion criteria and willing to participate were included. Data were collected using the Cyberchondria Severity Scale–Short Form (CSS-12), along with a sociodemographic questionnaire covering variables such as age, gender, education level, smoking status, and previous training. All ethical and institutional permissions were obtained prior to data collection.Results: Findings revealed that mild levels of cyberchondria were prevalent among participants. Significant associations were found between cyberchondria levels and sociodemographic variables including age, gender, education, and smoking. Specifically, lower education levels and smoking were linked to higher cyberchondria scores.Conclusion:The results indicate the importance of implementing regular, targeted health and care trainings to reduce the risk of cyberchondria. Furthermore, ensuring access to credible health resources in institutional settings is essential for mitigating anxiety and preventing misinformation-related behaviors among care personnel. KW - Cyberchondria KW - Care personnel KW - Health information N2 - Amaç: Bu tanımlayıcı çalışmanın amacı, kurumsal bakım ortamlarında çalışan bakım personelinin siberkondri düzeylerini incelemektir. Yöntem: Araştırma, Türkiye'nin Sivas ilinde bulunan bakım merkezlerinde çalışan 93 personel ile yürütülmüştür. Örneklem yöntemi kullanılmamış; çalışma kriterlerine uyan ve katılımı gönüllü olan tüm personel çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. Veriler, Siberkondri Şiddet Ölçeği–Kısa Formu (CSS-12) ve yaş, cinsiyet, eğitim durumu, sigara kullanımı ve alınan eğitim gibi değişkenleri içeren sosyodemografik form ile toplanmıştır. Gerekli etik ve kurumsal izinler alınmıştır.Bulgular: Katılımcıların çoğunluğunda hafif düzeyde siberkondri görülmüştür. Yaş, cinsiyet, eğitim ve sigara kullanımı gibi değişkenler ile siberkondri düzeyleri arasında anlamlı ilişkiler tespit edilmiştir.Sonuç: Bakım personeline düzenli sağlık ve bakım eğitimi verilmesinin siberkondri düzeylerini azaltabileceği; ayrıca güvenilir sağlık kaynaklarına erişimin sağlanmasının bu mücadelede kritik olduğu sonucuna varılmıştır. CR - Aleyeidi, N., Fayed, A., Alnowaiser, G., Aldubayyan, R., Alfahhad, L., Alhosaini, J., Ibrahim, S. F. (2025). Cyberchondria, somatic symptoms, and internet‑based self‑diagnosis behaviors among the Saudi population. Scientific Reports. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598025026129 CR - Deniz, S., & Koca, M. (2024). Cyberchondria in healthcare workers: An example from a training and research hospital. Journal of General Health Sciences, 6: (3), 504–513. CR - Duplaga, M., & Grysztar, M. (2021). The association between future anxiety, health literacy and the perception of the COVID-19 pandemic: A crosssectional study. In Healthcare (Vol. 9, No. 1, p. 43). MDPI. CR - Fang, S., & Mushtaque, I. (2024). The moderating role of health literacy and health promoting behavior in the relationship among health anxiety, emotional regulation, and cyberchondria. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 51–62. CR - Fergus, T. A., & Spada, M. M. (2017). Cyberchondria: Examining relations with problematic internet use and metacognitive beliefs. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 24: (6), 1322–1330. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2102 CR - Fluharty, M., Taylor, A. E., Grabski, M., & Munafò, M. R. (2016). The association of cigarette smoking with depression and anxiety: A systematic review. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 19(1), 3–13. CR - Garfin, D. R., Silver, R. C., & Holman, E. A. (2020). The novel coronavirus (COVID-2019) outbreak: Amplification of public health consequences by media exposure. Health psychology, 39(5), 355. CR - Hashemi, S. G. S., Hosseinnezhad, S., Dini, S., Griffiths, M. D., Lin, C. Y., & Pakpour, A. H. (2020). The mediating effect of the cyberchondria and anxiety sensitivity in the association between problematic internet use, metacognition beliefs, and fear of COVID-19 among Iranian online population. Heliyon, 6(10), e05064. CR - Jokic‑Begic, N., Zajec, D., & Jokić‑Begić, Ž. (2023). Predictors of cyberchondria during the COVID‑19 pandemic. JMIR Formative Research, 7, e42206. https://doi.org/10.2196/42206 CR - Jungmann, S. M., & Witthöft, M. (2020). Health anxiety, cyberchondria, and coping in the current COVID-19 pandemic: Which factors are related to coronavirus anxiety? Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 73, 102239. CR - Kurcer, M. A., Erdogan, Z., & Cakir Kardes, V. (2022). The effect of the COVID‐19 pandemic on health anxiety and cyberchondria levels of university students. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 58: (1), 132–140. CR - Lutwak, N. (2017). Commentary: Thoughts on cyberchondria—a new challenge for healthcare providers. Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 15(3), 1. CR - Maresca, G., Corallo, F., Catanese, G., Formica, C., & Lo Buono, V. (2022). Coping strategies of healthcare professionals with burnout syndrome: A systematic review. Medicina, 58(2), 327. CR - McElroy, E., Kearney, M., Touhey, J., Evans, J., Cooke, Y., & Shevlin, M. (2019). The CSS-12: Development and validation of a short-form version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(5), 330–335. CR - McMullan, R. D., Berle, D., Arnáez, S., & Starcevic, V. (2019). The relationships between health anxiety, online health information seeking, and cyberchondria: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 245, 270–278. CR - Newby, J. M., & McElroy, E. (2020). The impact of internetdelivered cognitive behavioural therapy for health anxiety on cyberchondria. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 6, 102150. CR - Ozcinar, M., & Gursoy, E. (2025). Cyberchondria and health anxiety among caregivers of home healthcare patients in Eastern Türkiye: Cyberchondria and health anxiety. Essentials of Frontline Medicine Journal, 2(1), 7–13. CR - Ozer, O., Ozmen, S., & Ozkan, O. (2023). Investigation of the effect of cyberchondria behavior on e-health literacy in healthcare workers. Hospital Topics, 101(2), 94–102. CR - Polit, D. F., & Beck, C. T. (2017). Nursing research: Generating and assessing evidence for nursing practice (10th ed.). Wolters Kluwer. CR - Sahan, S., & Kacmaz, E. D. (2024). Searching for Health Information on the Internet; Determining the Relationship Between Nurses’ Cyberchondria Levels, Health Anxiety, and Effective Factors. Mediterranean Nursing and Midwifery, 4(3), 159-165. https://doi.org/10.4274/MNM.2024.24209 CR - Sansakorn, P., Mushtaque, I., Awais‑E‑Yazdan, M., & Dost, M. K. B. (2024). The relationship between cyberchondria and health anxiety and the moderating role of health literacy among the Pakistani public. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 21(9), 1168. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21091168 CR - Starcevic, V., & Berle, D. (2013). Cyberchondria: Towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics, 13(2), 205–213. https://doi.org/10.1586/ern.12.162 CR - Starvaggi, I., Dierckman, C., & Lorenzo-Luaces, L. (2024). Mental health misinformation on social media: Review and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 56, 101738. CR - Terzi H, Akça A, Ayaz Alkaya S. Cyberchondria Severity Scale-Short Form: A Psychometric Study. General Medicine Journal. 2024;34(4):450-7. UR - https://doi.org/10.51972/tfsd.1758002 L1 - https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/5121523 ER -