Effectiveness of educational intervention on knowledge regarding internet addiction and its psycho social impact among high school students

Abstract

Background: Internet addiction is described as an impulse control disorder, which does not involve use of an intoxicating drug and is very similar to pathological gambling. The people suffering from internet addiction use the virtual fantasy world to connect with real people through the internet, as a substitution for real-life human connection, which they are unable to achieve normally. Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of educational intervention on knowledge of high school students regarding internet addiction and its psycho social impact by comparing pre-test and post-test knowledge scores and to find the association between the pre-test knowledge scores and selected demographic variables. Methodology: A quantitative approach with pre-experimental one group pretest post-test design was adopted for the study. The 60 samples from the selected from selected high schools of Baramati district were selected using convenient sampling technique. Data was collected by structured knowledge questionnaire. Results: The results of the study revealed that, in pretest maximum 33(55%) participants were had average knowledge, 22(36.7%) respondents were had poor knowledge and remaining 5(8.3%) of respondents were had good knowledge and it was changed during posttest as maximum 33(555%) of respondents were had good knowledge and 27(45%) of respondents were had average knowledge. The statistical paired ‘t’ implies that the difference in the pretest and post-test value was found statistically significant at 5% level (P<0.05) with a paired ‘t’ value of 10.06. There was statistically significant association found between level of knowledge and place of residence and mode of using internet Conclusion: There is a need for the educational programs for the students for the prevention excessive use of internet, prevention of health problems due to it.