Determination of the Relationship Between Internet Addiction and the Level of Loneliness Among Nurses

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to compare the sociodemographic factors associated with internet addiction and loneliness level among nurses and determine a correlation between the two. METHODS: The descriptive and cross-sectional type of this study was conducted with all nurses (361) working in two hospital in Balıkesir, Turkey, between January 15 and December 15, 2015, who had no histories of psychiatric diseases and agreed to participate in this study. A total of 203 nurses participated in this study, and all data were collected using the personal information form, Internet addiction scale and UCLA Loneliness Inventory. Ethics are approved for the application of the research. In the analysis of the data, percentages, Mann Whitney U, One Way ANOVA, Dunnett's test and Spearman correlation analysis were used. RESULTS: The mean internet addiction and loneliness scores of the nurses were found to below as the lowest and highest score average that can be taken from the scales. Internet addiction scores were found to be higher in males aged 35 years or below, those who used the internet at the service, and those who spent more than 1 h online compared with females aged 36 years or above, those who did not use the internet at the service, and those who spent less than 1 h online, respectively. A positive weak linear correlations was found between the loneliness score and social relation problems and internet addiction of the nurses. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: There was a weak positive relationship between loneliness and internet addiction in the nurses in the study. It is recommended to study on a larger sample.

Keywords

• internet addiction
• loneliness
• nurse