Can Internet Anxiety Affect Electronic Journals Usage? A Cross- Sectional Study with Iranian Postgraduate Dental Students

ABSTRACT

Objective: To investigate internet anxiety among the dentistry students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences and its relationship with electronic journals use. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all 72 postgraduate dental assistants at Dentistry School of Kerman University of Medical Sciences were considered. Internet anxiety questionnaire included demographic questions and questions measuring online journals use and the barriers of using. The data then analyzed using independent t-test and linear regression, with significance level set at 5%. Results: The use of printed books was reported by 78.2% of the sample while the use of electronic books was 45.8%. The use of atlas was 28.9%, while the use of indexes and abstracts was 57.2. The participants used online journals mostly for research (30.8%) and education (27.7%). The most important advantages of online journals were fast access (25.1%) and easy use (19.9%). To get informed about online journals contents, they mostly used search engines and online databases (79%). The most important criterion was indexing in Web of Science (20.8%). A significant relationship between Internet anxiety and academic year was detected (p<0.05) also increase in internet use significantly increased Internet anxiety (p=0.001). We suggested increasing the knowledge and skill of dental students with online resources toward decreasing the level of their Internet anxiety. Conclusion: A reverse relationship was observed between the academic year and internet anxiety, in other words, senior students were more anxious than the junior ones. This study did not ask about computer literacy, other studies have reported a negative relationship between computer literacy, Internet literacy and internet anxiety, so it is suggested to increase the knowledge and skill of students with computer, internet and online resources.