SAĞLIK YÖNETİMİ VE BANKACILIK VE SİGORTACILIK BÖLÜMÜ ÖĞRENCİLERİNİN SİBERKONDRİ DÜZEYLERİYLE İLGİLİ FAKTÖRLERİN İNCELENMESİ: AMPİRİK BİR ANALİZ

In recent years, the internet has become a primary source of information and communication on nearly every topic imaginable and health information is no exception. More and more people are turning to the internet for answers regarding their health concerns, and for many, this has turned into an unhealthy obsession. The excessive examination of health information on the internet and the resulting increase in health anxiety has been given the name “cyberchondria”. This study aimed to reveal the effects of health education on the expression of cyberchondria by comparing two undergraduate departments, one of which received health education at the undergraduate level and one of which did not receive health education. A total of 418 participants took part in the study. The T-test and Mann-Whitney-U test were used to evaluate the differences between the two variables, while One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and the Kruskal-Wallis test were used to evaluate the differences between three or more variables. The independent variables in this study, which consisted of a range of demographic information, showed no statistically significant difference between the departments. However, when the mean scores of the departments were examined, it was observed that the students who had received health education had lower scores on the Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS). This supports the results obtained in some previous studies. As a result, it can be concluded that the availability of accurate and formal health education is an important factor in reducing the levels of cyberchondria.