Impact of Teaching Scientific Search Methods and Increasing Familiarity with Databases on the Reduction of Information Seeking Anxiety in Students of Dentistry in the University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Abstract

Background: The negative impact of anxiety on information seeking is of great importance and it has been studied in different ways worldwide. Based on the results of such studies, it is possible to identify different aspects of information seeking anxiety, to design different tools to assess it, to evaluate personal and social factors affecting it, and to identify various methods to inhibit and reduce it. Hence, the current study aimed to evaluate the effect of teaching scientific search methods and increasing familiarity with databases on reducing the level of anxiety among students of dentistry at the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Methods: The current survey included all students of the faculty of dentistry at the Zahedan University of Medical Sciences in the academic year of 2015-16 as the study population. A total of 60 volunteers were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly allocated to 2 groups of 30, as the experimental and control groups. The information seeking anxiety scale was used to collect data. Results: The present findings revealed the effectiveness of teaching interventions on reducing the level of information seeking anxiety among students using the independent t test. Specifically, findings revealed a reduction in the anxiety caused by barriers to using information resources (t = 3.79; P value = 0.001), by the barriers to using the computer and Internet (t = 5.35; P value = 0.001), and by information seeking and topic selection barriers (t = 2.50; P value = 0.015). However, the intervention had no effect on the level of anxiety caused by barriers to using the library (t = 0.89; P value = 0.373) and technical barriers (t = 0.68; P value = 0.495). Conclusions: Considering the findings of the current study, some measures can be taken to reduce information seeking anxiety in students, especially in the academic environment. Hence, it is recommended to design other studies to further evaluate information seeking anxiety.