Journal of School of Public Health and

Background and Aim: Internet has become an effective medium to transfer new scientific and research findings, knowledge and information in educational processes across the world. It also facilitates essential communication among millions of people globally and offers users plenty of entertainment for their leisure time. However, excessive computer use interferes with daily life and carries a risk of addiction. Therefore, the concept of internet addiction is now considered a social problem. This study was conducted to determine the association between internet addiction and general health among dormitory students of Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2010.

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted in 2010, included 125 female- and 110 male-students from dormitories of Tehran University of Medical Sciences, selected by stratified random sampling. The instruments for data collection were two standard questionnaires - YANG Internet Addiction and Goldberg's General Health (GHQ). Data were analyzed by SPSS-19, the statistical tests being Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Mann-Whitney U, Chi-square, correlation coefficient, and multivariate regression.

Results: The results showed that, based on the YANG classification, 34% of the students were addicted to the internet. In comparison with ordinary users, the general health of the internet-addicted users was at a higher risk (p<0.001). The two groups were also different with regard to anxiety and depression (p<0.001), but not with regard to physical function or social function.                     

Conclusion: Internet addiction among dormitory students is a cause for concern. Well-designed programs focusing on education, counseling and behavioral intervention are needed to reduce internet addiction amongst vulnerable students.

Background and Aim: This study was conducted to assess the quality of life as an outcome of health services among high school students in Tehran, Iran.                 

Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study included 1500 high school students in Tehran, Iran. Data were collected using the health-related quality of life questionnaire “KIDSCREEN-27” and analyzed using SPSS software version 23. The level of significance was set at p < 0.05.

Results: The quality of life amongst the participants was found to be moderate. The highest and lowest scores were for the parents’ relations and physical and psychological wellbeing dimensions, respectively. Based on multivariate linear regression, gender was a statistically significant predictor of the physical wellbeing dimension. Further analysis of the data showed gender and choosing a family to live with to be statistically significant predictors of psychological wellbeing dimension, while maternal education and choosing a family to live with were statistically significant predictors of parents’ relations and autonomy dimension. Finally, father’s job and choosing a family to live with were predictors of peer and social support and school environment dimensions, respectively.

Conclusion: The quality of life of the participants was moderate, which is not acceptable. It is recommended to design and implement intervention programs to improve the quality of life of high school students with an emphasis on physical and psychological wellbeing dimensions.