Internet addiction among nursing students of selected colleges of Kathmandu.

Thesis Report.

ABSTRACT: Internet is a widespread information infrastructure in this revolutionized 21st century. Most of the people use internet daily in their life for different purposes. Addiction is the compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substances. Internet addiction (IA) is a condition where people are not able to stop using the internet even though the problem is seriously affecting their health, education, family and interpersonal relationships. Quantitative approach based cross sectional analytical research design was used to identify the prevalence and knowledge level of IA among nursing students. Four colleges was purposively selected as Everest College of Nursing, Norvic Institute of Nursing Education, Nepal Institute of Health Sciences, and Om Health Campus. Stratified random sampling technique was adopted to select the required sample. The data was collected by using structured questionnaires, and Internet Addiction Test (IAT) developed by Dr. Young through self-administered questionnaires technique. Among the total 234 respondent of selected colleges of Kathmandu, maximum 50.4% of the respondents had IA and minimum 49.6% has no IA. Among 50.4% of the respondents who had IA, 36.7% had mild IA, and 13.7% had moderate IA. The study shows that the prevalence of IA is considerably high. The study revealed that 84.2% had inadequate knowledge, 15.4% had moderate adequate knowledge and 0.4% had adequate knowledge. This concludes that there is a lack of knowledge of IA among nursing students. To conclude this study, although there is no high prevalence of IA but despite of this, awareness programme should be conducted to prevent emerging IA. In order to address these emerging issue, proper prompt and appropriate actions should be taken and a governing body should be established to anticipate possible impact of IA on nursing students. Conduction of in-services educational program should be done for college students that provides information about IA and its impacts on our health and education.