Cyberchondria in Filipino Teacher Education Students
Abstract
The Internet-dense ecosystem has dramatically influenced the health-seeking behaviors of any population group. Likewise, exposure to a large amount of information increases health anxiety resulting in cyberchondria. This cross-sectional research study examined the level of cyberchondria among 179 teacher education students. Generally, the findings revealed that the students' overall level of cyberchondria was moderate, including its subscales, namely, excessiveness, distress, reassurance, and compulsion subscales. However, relatively higher correlations existed between excessiveness and compulsion and between distress and compulsion. Notably, gender and program have a very weak relationship with cyberchondria subscales. Meanwhile, the weakest association was between the programs enrolled by the students and cyberchondria subscales. Interestingly, students' age and year level have slightly higher but weak associations to all cyberchondria subscales, especially excessiveness and distress subscales. As an intervention, an interdisciplinary collaboration between teacher education programs and the health-related courses is recommended to promote awareness about cyberchondria, its prevention, and management.
Keywords
References
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DOI: http://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v11i3.22287
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