The Effect of Coronavirus Fear on Cyberchondria Level in Students Studying in the Field of Health

Yıl 2022, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 142 - 151, 30.08.2022

Mustafa Belli

https://doi.org/10.56150/tjhsl.1141931

Öz

ABSTRACT
Objectives: This research was conducted to determine the effect of coronavirus fear on cyberchondria levels in students studying in the health field.
Materials and method: The sample of the descriptive, correlational, and cross-sectional research conducted with students at Vocational School of Health Services between March 2022 and June 2022 is 304. "Personal Information Form," "Coronavirus (Covid-19) Fear Scale," and "Cyberchondria Severity Scale Short-Form" were applied to students who accepted to participate in the study.
Results: The mean age of the students was 20.02 ± 1.15 (min: 18; max: 25); 73.0% were female. The average score of the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Fear Scale of the students participating in the study was 20.55 ± 4.47 (min: 7; max: 32), and the average score of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale was 35.93 ± 5.35 (min: 16; max: 46). It was determined that there was a statistically significant and positive relationship between the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Fear Scale and the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (r=0.579, p<0.05). Students' coronavirus fears are a major determinant of cyberchondria severity. Fear of coronavirus accounts for 33.3% of the variance in cyberchondria severity (β = 0.579, F = 152.474, p < 0.001). Accordingly, the one-unit increase in students' Coronavirus fears causes an increase of 0.579 (β=0.579) in the severity of cyberchondria.
Conclusion: As a result of the research, it was revealed that the fear of Coronavirus in students studying in the field of health affected cyberchondria. It remains unclear when the current coronavirus pandemic will end. It is recommended to conduct large-population studies to identify the psychological problems caused by the pandemic and to determine strategies to minimize these negative consequences.

Anahtar Kelimeler

COVID‑19, cyberchondria, fear of Coronavirus, health undergraduates

Destekleyen Kurum

Bulunmamaktadır.

Proje Numarası

-

Teşekkür

-

Kaynakça

• World Health Organization (2020): WHO Timeline - COVID-19. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-who-timeline---covid-19?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI4MaewOeo6gIVyyMrCh2JRgUIEAAYASAAEgLo3_D_BwE. (Accessed June 10, 2022).
• World Health Organization (2020): WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. Available at https://covid19.who.int/. (Accessed June 25, 2022).
• Haug N, Geyrhofer L, Londei A, Dervic E, Desvars-Larrive A, Loreto V, et al. Ranking the effectiveness of worldwide COVID-19 government interventions. Nat Hum Behav. 2020;4(12):1303–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01009-0
• Özbey, İ. B. (2021). Koronavirüs salgınının toplumsal yapı üzerindeki etkileri: Erzurum örneği. Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 23(3), 821-839.
• Şahin E, Ayaz F. Bir sağlık Arama davranışı olarak sosyal medya kullanımı: İzolasyon, karantina ve sosyal mesafe tedbirlerinde Facebook’ta covid-19 İçerikli sosyal medya paylaşımlarının görünümü. Connect istanb univ j commun sci. 2021;0(60):185–215. http://dx.doi.org/10.26650/connectist2021-862042
• Zandifar A, Badrfam R. Iranian mental health during the COVID-19 epidemic. Asian J Psychiatr. 2020;51(101990):101990. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.101990
• Wang C, Pan R, Wan X, Tan Y, Xu L, Ho CS, et al. Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(5):1729. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17051729
• Arora A, Jha AK, Alat P, Das SS. Understanding coronaphobia. Asian J Psychiatr. 2020;54:102384. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102384
• Birimoğlu Okuyan C, Karasu F, Polat F. COVID-19’un hemşirelik öğrencilerinin sağlık kaygısı düzeyleri üzerine etkisi. Van Sag Bil Derg. 2020;13:45–52.
• Salkovskis PM, Warwick HMC, Deale AC. Cognitive‐behavioral treatment for severe and persistent health anxiety (hypochondriasis). Brief Treat Crisis Interv. 2003;3(3):353–68. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/brief-treatment/mhg026
• Hadjistavropoulos HD, Janzen JA, Kehler MD, Leclerc JA, Sharpe D, Bourgault-Fagnou MD. Core cognitions related to health anxiety in self reported medical and non-medical samples. Journal of Behavioral Medicine. 2012;35(2):167–78
• Maftei A, Holman AC. Cyberchondria during the Coronavirus pandemic: The effects of neuroticism and optimism. Front Psychol. 2020;11:567345. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.567345
• Starcevic V, Berle D. Cyberchondria: towards a better understanding of excessive health-related Internet use. Expert Rev Neurother. 2013;13(2):205–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1586/ern.12.162
• Vismara M, Caricasole V, Starcevic V, Cinosi E, Dell’Osso B, Martinotti G, et al. Is cyberchondria a new transdiagnostic digital compulsive syndrome? A systematic review of the evidence. Compr Psychiatry. 2020;99(152167):152167. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comppsych.2020.152167
• Quansah F, Hagan JE Jr, Ankomah F, Srem-Sai M, Frimpong JB, Sambah F, et al. Relationship between COVID-19 related knowledge and anxiety among University students: Exploring the moderating roles of school climate and coping strategies. Front Psychol. 2022;13:820288. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.820288
• Daniel SJ. Education and the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospects (Paris). 2020;49(1–2):91–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11125-020-09464-3
• Liu J, Zhu Q, Fan W, Makamure J, Zheng C, Wang J. Corrigendum: Online mental health survey in a medical college in China during the COVID-19 outbreak. Front Psychiatry. 2020;11. http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00845
• Shailaja B, Shetty V, Chaudhury S, Thyloth M. Exploring cyberchondria and its associations in dental students amid COVID-19 infodemic. Ind Psychiatry J. 2020;29(2):257–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.4103/ipj.ipj_212_20
• Kartal YA, Kaya L. Covid-19 Salgınında Ebelik Öğrencilerinin Siberkondri Düzeyleri ve Etkileyen Faktörlerin İncelenmesi. Samsun Sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi. 2021;6(3):541–55.
• Ladikli N, Bahadır E, Yumuşak FN, Akkuzu H, Karaman G, Türkkan Z. Kovid-19 Korkusu Ölçeği’nin Türkçe Güvenirlik ve Geçerlik Çalışması. International Journal of Social Science. 2020;3(2):71–80.
• Söyler, S., Biçer, İ., & Çavmak, D (2021): Siberkondri Ciddiyeti Ölçeği Kısa Formu (CSS-12) Geçerlilik ve Güvenirlilik Çalışması. 302. In: S. Uyar & R. Kıraç (Ed.), Davranışsal Boyutları ile Sağlık. Nobel Akademik Yayıncılık. Ankara.
• Ahorsu DK, Lin C-Y, Imani V, Saffari M, Griffiths MD, Pakpour AH. The fear of COVID-19 scale: Development and initial validation. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2022;20(3):1537–45. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00270-8
• McElroy E, Kearney M, Touhey J, Evans J, Cooke Y, Shevlin M. The CSS-12: Development and validation of a short-form version of the Cyberchondria Severity Scale. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2019;22(5):330–5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1089/cyber.2018.0624
• IBM Corp. Released 2017. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 25.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.
• Tabachnick BG, Fidell LS 2018: Using multivariate statistics. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
• Çalışkan E., Kargın M., Ersöğütçü F. Hemşirelik Öğrencilerinde Covid-19 Korkusu İle Hemşirelik Mesleğine Yönelik Tutum Arasındaki İlişki. Sürekli Tıp Eğitimi Dergisi. 2021; 30(3): 170-180. https://doi.org/10.17942/sted.880773
• Duman N. Üniversite Öğrencilerinde COVID-19 Korkusu ve Belirsizliğe Tahammülsüzlük. The Journal of Social Science. 2020; 4 (8), 426-437. http://dx.doi.org/10.30520/tjsosci.748404
• Mertens G, Gerritsen L, Duijndam S, Salemink E, Engelhard IM. Fear of the Coronavirus (COVID-19): Predictors in an online study conducted in March 2020. J Anxiety Disord. 2020;74(102258):102258. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102258
• Özmen S, Özkan O, Özer Ö, Yanardağ MZ. Investigation of COVID-19 fear, well-being and life satisfaction in Turkish society. Soc Work Public Health. 2021;36(2):164–77. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2021.1877589
• Harper CA, Satchell LP, Fido D, Latzman RD. Functional fear predicts public health compliance in the COVID-19 pandemic. Int J Ment Health Addict. 2021;19(5):1875–88. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11469-020-00281-5
• Jungmann SM, Witthöft M. Health anxiety, cyberchondria, and coping in the current COVID-19 pandemic: Which factors are related to coronavirus anxiety? J Anxiety Disord. 2020;73(102239):102239. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2020.102239
• Wu X, Nazari N, Griffiths MD. Using fear and anxiety related to COVID-19 to predict cyberchondria: Cross-sectional survey study. J Med Internet Res. 2021;23(6):e26285. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/26285
• Hashemi SGS, Hosseinnezhad S, Dini S, Griffiths MD, Lin CY, Pakpour AH. 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. 2020;6(10):e05135. https://doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.heliyon.2020.e05135
• Yam FC, Korkmaz O, Griffiths MD. The association between fear of Covid-19 and smartphone addiction among individuals: the mediating and moderating role of cyberchondria severity. Curr Psychol. 2021;1–14. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02324-z
• Oniszczenko W. Anxious temperament and cyberchondria as mediated by fear of COVID-19 infection: A cross-sectional study. PLoS One. 2021;16(8):e0255750. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255750
• Durmuş A, Deniz S, Akbolat M, Çimen M. Does cyberchondria mediate the effect of COVID-19 fear on the stress? Soc Work Public Health. 2022;37(4):356–69. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19371918.2021.2014013
• Sohail M, Zafar N. Fear of COVID-19 and stress in university students: mediating role of cyberchondria and moderating role of creative coping and social supports. J Pak Med Assoc. 2022; http://dx.doi.org/10.47391/jpma.4350
• Rovetta A, Bhagavathula AS. COVID-19-related web search behaviors and infodemic attitudes in Italy: Infodemiological study. JMIR Public Health Surveill. 2020;6(2):e19374. http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/19374