Pattern of internet use, anxiety, and depression among professional students of Tripura, India: an analysis

Introduction: In this era of technology we cannot imagine our lives without internet. However, excessive internet use may bring curse in life. Aims and objectives: The present study was an attempt to examine the pattern and prevalence of internet use among medical and engineering students. It was also aimed at comparing pattern of internet use, anxiety, and depression of professional students. Further, it was also intended to study the level of anxiety and depression across the subgroups of internet users. Methodology: The study was carried out among 1100 professional students, selected randomly from five institutions of Tripura, India. Out of 1100 students, 659 were medial students and 441 were engineering students. All of them were in the age group of 18-25 years. Internet Addiction Test, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale, and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale were used for assessing pattern of internet use, anxiety, and depression respectively among the professional students. Data was collected from the subjects following group administration method and was analysed quantitatively with the help of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 25 (SPSS v25). Results: The prevalence of excessive internet use among professional students of Tripura was 7.4%. Medical and engineering students did not differ significantly with respect to their pattern of internet use (except ‘average’ use of internet), anxiety, and depression. However, a significant difference in each of anxiety and depression had been noted across the different patterns of internet use of the study subjects.

What competencies do environmental health graduates need to manage social determinants of health?

BACKGROUND@#Graduates of environmental health engineering should be able to manage Social Determinants of Health (SDH) and acquire the essential competencies during their studies at university. This study was performed to determine the expected competencies of environmental health graduates in a way to be able to manage environmental and Social Determinants of Health according to their job description.@*METHODS@#This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed using Delphi technique. First, the literature review was done and the Delphi technique was performed in three rounds. The purposeful sampling was used and 50 people were selected among the specialists in the field of environmental health engineering and SDH. Participants answered an open-ended question, for the first round. Then, a questionnaire with 8 areas was designed based on the results of the first round and distributed for the second round. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics. The third round was done to reach the agreement on final items.@*RESULTS@#The agreement on the items of the third round of Delphi was more than 70%. The final results showed eight competency areas under which 29 competencies were defined. Competency areas included expert knowledge, reasoning and planning, advocacy, system-based practice, professionalism, instructional expertise, social and personal skills and, research and self-development. The first three priorities of the required competency areas were expert knowledge (4.46 ± 0.55), professionalism (4.42 ± 0.64), and advocacy (4.32 ± 0.77).@*CONCLUSIONS@#It is necessary that environmental health engineers achieve necessary competencies regarding managing SDH, upon their graduation. It is suggested to integrate these competencies into the curriculum of environmental and health engineering in Iran universities.

Comparison of internet addictions and its mental effects in medical and engineering students of a private university at Pune

Background: There has been explosive growth in the use of the internet. Internet addiction is upcoming problem and less researched entity. Study is conducted to compare internet addiction in engineering and medical students.Methods: A self-administered pretested predesigned questionnaire was used for data collection. Total 303 medical and engineering students were participated in the study. Young’s internet addiction test and DASS scale is used to measure internet addiction and psychological variables.Results: 23% were normal users, 59.1% were mild internet addicts, 17.4% were moderate internet addicts and 0.3% were severe internet addicts. There was strong positive relation between internet addiction and depression anxiety and stress.Conclusions: Internet addiction is a growing problem so it is important to create awareness among students to have a healthy lifestyle.

Internet addiction among engineering students in Belagavi city: cross sectional study

Background: Internet addiction is not clinical diagnosis, but a potentially pathological behavioral pattern with symptoms: a loss of control over the behavior, preoccupation with the Internet, using the Internet to modify mood, and withdrawal symptoms. Easy access and low cost of Internet packs- are main cause of development of increased internet use in India. Internet addiction – factors like gender, environmental factors, socioeconomic status, etc. have effect on internet use.Methods: Cross-sectional study conducted during January 2016 to February 2016. Data was collected among 500 engineering students of four engineering colleges of Belagavi city using young's questionnaire. Analysis was performed using SPS 20. Chi-square applied as statistical test of significance for the association between age, sex, residence, SES and schooling. P<0.01 was considered to be statistically significant.Results: The present study revealed that 16.2 and 6.2% of participants had moderate and severe form of internet addiction respectively. With increase in age prevalence of addiction increased. Internet addiction was more among Males when compared to females. Addiction was seen more in students whose both parents were working.Conclusions: Internet addiction is an emerging form of addiction among students with males more than females mostly among engineering students who are dependent on internet for their work, carrier and completion of course Hence it's time to develop comprehensive intervention approach to promote healthy and safe internet use from family, college and peers.

A cross sectional study to assess the prevalence and associated factors of computer vision syndrome among engineering students of Hyderabad, Telangana

Background: Computer vision syndrome is a complex of eye and vision problems related to near work which are experienced due to prolonged computer use. Computers demand near work, for longer duration which increases discomfort of eye and prolonged exposure to the discomfort leads to a cascade of symptoms that can be referred as computer vision syndrome. The aims and objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of computer vision syndrome among engineering students of Hyderabad, Telangana and to determine the factors related to computer vision syndrome among study population.Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from March to June 2017 among students of an engineering college in Hyderabad, Telangana. A convenient sample of 300 students was taken and a predesigned, pre tested questionnaire was used to obtain information.Results: Majority of study population were males (56.3%). Around 75.1% of study population were using all the electronic gadgets like computers, laptops and smartphones. The prevalence of computer vision syndrome was found to be 60.3%. Around 46.7% of study population viewed the screen from a distance of 22-40 centimeters.Conclusions: As students pursuing engineering stream are the future IT and Computer software engineers, preventive strategies adopted by them will significantly decrease the burden of computer vision syndrome and improve productivity. In this study a significant proportion of the engineering students were found to be having vision problems, which emphasizes the need to adopt preventive measures to avoid computer vision syndrome

Dental anxiety among university students and its correlation with their field of study

Objective: This study was designed to investigate the subjective ratings of dental anxiety levels among university students enrolled at Jordan University of Science and Technology. In addition, the present study aimed to explore the sources of dental anxiety and the impact of gender on the perceived dental anxiety and the correlation between field of study and dental anxiety level.Material and Methods: The Modified Corah Dental Anxiety Scale was used to measure dental anxiety among the study population. Six hundred subjects were recruited into the study from Jordanian undergraduate students from the faculties of Medicine, Engineering, and Dentistry. Results: Five hundred and thirty five complete questionnaires were returned, which accounts for a response rate of 89.2%. The totals of the mean anxiety scores were the following: Medical students, 13.58%; Engineering students, 13.27% and dental students, 11.22%. About 32% of the study population has scored 15 or more. Dental students had the lowest percentage of those who scored 15 or more. Surprisingly, the medical students were responsible for the highest percentage of those who scored 15or above. Although women demonstrated statistically higher total dental anxiety scores than men (p= 0.03), the difference between both genders was small and could be clinically insignificant. The students were anxious mostly about tooth drilling and local anesthetic injection. Conclusion: Lack of adequate dental health education may result in a high level of dental anxiety among nondentaluniversity students in Jordan. Further studies are required to identify the correlates of dental anxiety among university students.

The relationship between the coping style and serf-concept of college engineering students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective To study the relationship between the coping style and self-concept of college engi-neering students.Methods 559 engineering students were assessed with the Coping Style Questionnaire and the Tennessee Serf-Concept Scale.Results (1) The positive factors of self-concept had significantly negative correla-tion to the coping styles of serf-blame,illusion,avoidance,and rationalization(-0.445～-0.136,P<0.01),but had significantly positive correlation to the coping style of solving problem and seeking help(0.119～0.432,P<0.01).Serf-criticism had significantly negative correlation to the coping styles of serf-blame,illusion,avoidance,and rationalization(0.134～0.215,P<0.01);(2)There were significant differences between high self-concept students and low self-concept students for coping styles(P<0.01) ;(3) The factors of serf-concept had significant predictability on coping styles.Conclusion There was a higher correlation between the coping style and serf-con-cept of college engineering students.