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

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

Keywords:

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

PDF

___

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