Relation between Internet Addiction and Educational Burnout among Students in Faculty of Health Management and Medical Informatics of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences: A Cross - Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: With growing usage of Internet in daily life, there is a risk of addiction to using the Internet among users especially students, who use the Internet as a tool for their educational duties. Addiction to the Internet may be a risk factor for educational burnout, which may cause educational failure. This study was designed to determine the relation between Internet addiction and educational burnout among students in the faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences. Materials and Methods: This is a cross -sectional study in which all of the students of the Faculty of Management and Medical Information Sciences of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, in 2015, were included. The data were collected using Young's Internet Addiction questionnaire and Maslach Educational Burnout questionnaire. The independent t -test, ANOVA, and linear regression were used to analyze data by using SPSS -v19 (P < 0.05). Results:The total mean ± SD Internet addiction score was 25.35 ± 16.44. A significant relationship was found between addiction to the Internet and variables such as sex and residential location (P < 0.05). The total means ± SD of educational burnout score was 41.83 ± 14.22. Significant relationship between educational burnout and demographic variables was not found. There was a significant relationship between Internet addiction and educational burnout and its subscales including emotional exhaustion, cynicism subscales, and inefficacy subscale (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Given the positive relationship between Internet addiction and educational burnout among students, it's necessary for authorities to declare the risk of overuse of Internet for students and encourage them to optimize the use of this technology to prevent outcomes such as educational burnout.

Sex Differences in the Relationship between Student School Burnout and Problematic Internet Use among Adolescents

“…The main objective of this research was to test for gender differences in school-related predictors of Internet addiction. Our study supplemented the existing literature by examining the association between school burnout and Internet addiction for adolescent girls and boys separately [66]. According to the results, it was discovered that a higher level of school burnout is related to higher Internet addiction indicators.…”

“…Other research showed differentiated effects on Internet addiction by gender in such prevalence of IA like: school grades, parental education, alcohol drinking, smoking consumption, and substance use [83]. Many previous studies showed that Internet addiction affects boys more often [66]. One possible explanation is that they try to cope with negative school pressure and stress, and negative feelings and thoughts connected with burnout syndrome, by indulging themselves on the Internet, which is rather an avoidance and ineffective strategy of problem solving.…”

“…From the findings, gender played an important role in this relationship e.g., females suffered more than boys from school burnout symptoms in late adolescence, and males suffered from excessive Internet use. Internet addiction explained 16% of variances in the level of academic burnout [66]. The findings also showed that more often Internet addiction affects boys than girls, but there are no significant gender differences associated with school burnout.…”

Internet Addiction a Global Concern: A Cross-Sectional Appraisal amongst Imminent Medical Doctors of National Defence University of Malaysia

“…The result is comparable to the outcome of other experiments. [23,[25][26][27]29,31,33] In addition, the meta-analysis of 26 studies from China further confirmed male students are more addicted to the internet than females. [35] However, the outcome is in contrast with the findings of another study.…”

“…In addition, several studies have found an association between the medical profession and academic stress and between internet addiction and academic anxiety. (11,23,24) As medical students are our doctors of the future, reducing the risk of internet addiction is essential to ensuring their success in their chosen field. [1,25] In general, indiscriminate use of the internet among medical students needs to be adequately monitored and regulations imposed where necessary.…”