Summary The amount of time spent online has increased over the last decade among higher education students. Students engage in online activities related to studies, work, leisure, entertainment and electronic services (e-services) use. The Internet is also used for health-related matters. The increase in the use of the Internet has influenced students’ health, especially mental and physical health and well-being. This scoping review scrutinizes the literature between 2015 and 2020 (N = 55) on the association between Internet use and health in higher education students. A methodological framework, outlined by Arksey and O'Malley, was applied to conduct this review. Systematic searches were carried out in the CINAHL, PubMed and Scopus databases and in the available grey literature. For the data, a thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke was utilized. Two major themes of ‘Health-promoting Internet use’ and ‘Health-threatening Internet use’ emerged and are described in this review.
Background During the COVID-19 pandemic, Internet and social media became important and fast sources of health information, leading to overabundance of both valid and invalid information. Digital health literacy (DHL) is a core competency for navigating web- and social media based COVID-19 information. This study is part of the global COVID-HL survey assessing DHL among university students. Methods Six universities from Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Finland participated in an online survey in May 2020. Five subscales from the DHL Instrument (DHLI), adapted to the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, were used. The data were analyzed using univariate and bivariate analyses. Results Mean age of the students (N = 3771) was 28 y. (females n = 2720). Students had searched information from the Internet for themselves and others (85,2%). Females had searched more than male, and the probability of searches increased with age. Majority of students (90,4%) considered information easy to find and 83,2% of students found it easy to use the information in decisions related to their health, males easier than female or diverse gender. The greatest difficulty was in assessing the reliability of information (24,0%). The sources for information seeking often were news sites, search engines, and websites of public bodies (64,8%, 50,5% and 44,1%, respectively). The topics that were most searched were spread of the coronavirus (90,1%), its symptoms (88,0%) and restrictions (87,7%). 86,3% of students considered the verified information very important. Conclusions Finnish students were rather confident in their DHL skills. However, almost every fourth had difficulties in assessing the reliability of the information, a key competence of DHL in the context of overabundance of information. This suggests that DHL, especially the competence of critically evaluate health related information, need to be strengthen among university students in Finland across different study subjects.
Korkeakouluopiskelijoiden internetin käyttö on lisääntynyt huomattavasti viimeisen kymmenen vuoden aikana. Internetistä on tullut osa päivittäistä toimintaa, ja opiskelijat viettävät paljon aikaa verkossa. Runsaan internetin käytön on havaittu olevan yhteydessä terveydelle haitalliseen käyttäytymiseen. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli selvittää korkeakouluopiskelijoiden internetin ajallisen käytön ja terveyskäyttäytymisen välistä yhteyttä fyysiseen aktiivisuuteen, ruokailutottumuksiin, suun terveystottumuksiin ja päihteiden käyttöön liittyen. Tutkimus toteutettiin kyselomakkein vuonna 2016 ja kohderyhmänä olivat 18–34-vuotiaat suomalaiset yliopisto- ja ammattikorkeakouluopiskelijat (N = 3050). Aineisto analysoitiin kuvailevin menetelmin ja logistisella regressioanalyysilla. Tulosten mukaan opiskelijat viettivät internetissä päivittäin aikaa useita tunteja. Mitä enemmän opiskelijat käyttivät internetiä, sitä terveyden kannalta epäedullisemmat heidän fyysisen aktiivisuuden, ruokailun ja päihteiden käytön tottumuksensa olivat. Tämä voi olla haitallista opiskelijoiden terveydelle ja opiskelulle ja tavat käyttäytymisessä voivat ulottua aina työelämään saakka. Korkeakouluopintojen aikana on tärkeää välittää tietoa internetin liikakäytöstä ja tähän liittyvistä oireista sekä tarjota tukea ja hoitomahdollisuuksia. Lisäksi on tärkeää kiinnittää opiskelijoiden huomiota runsaan internetin käytön ja haitallisen terveyskäyttäytymisen yhteyksiin ja heidän omiin mahdollisuuksiinsa vaikuttaa niihin. Terveyden edistämisen asiantuntijoilla on hyvä mahdollisuus tavoittaa opiskelijat internetin sosiaalisen median sivustojen kautta.
Objectives Excessive Internet use is a health concern among higher education students leading to reduced academic performance and problems in everyday life. This study aimed to explore the relationship between health and problems of studying and daily rhythm caused by time spent online among students (n=3,050). Methods A cross-sectional survey was carried out. The data were analyzed using descriptive and chi-square tests and logistic regression analyses. Results Findings indicated that one fifth of students reported having problems of studying and daily rhythm caused by time spent online. Psychological health symptoms such as anxiety (p<0.001) and physical health symptoms including lower back problems (p<0.001) were associated with these problems. According to the logistic regression analyses, problems of studying and daily rhythm caused by time spent online and higher amount of Internet use by time were associated with psychological and physical health symptoms. Conclusions The findings suggest that problems of studying and daily rhythm and spending more time online are related to health symptoms among the students. The study’s findings can be used from a prevention standpoint for early identification and further to identify the need for seeking professional treatment.
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