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Volume 8 Epidemiology: Open Access
ISSN: 2161-1165 Epidemiology 2018
September 17-19, 2018
September 17-19, 2018 | Rome, Italy
8th International Conference on
Epidemiology & Public Health
Evaluation of cyberchondria and obsessive beliefs in adults
Zeynep Demirtas1, Gulsum O Emiral1, Seval Caliskan1, Sevil A Zencirci1, Alaettin Unsal1, Didem Arslantas1 and Kazim Tirpan2
1Eskisehir Osmangazi University, Turkey
2Kemal Nurhan Mani Family Medicine Unit, Turkey
Statement of the Problem: Cyberchondria expresses the increasing health anxiety as a result of repetitive and excessive search
of health-related information on internet. Cyberchondria can play a role in the development and maintenance of obsessive
beliefs. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between cyberchondria and obsessive beliefs and determine of factors
related to cyberchondria.
Method: This cross-sectional study carried out on the internet users who applied to primary health care units in Eskisehir,
Turkey. The cluster sampling method was used and each primary health care unit was considered as a cluster. The study group
consisted of 777 people. The individuals were administered Personal Information Form, Cyberchondria Severity Scale and
Obsessive Beliefs Questionnaire through face to face interview method by the researchers. Multiple lineer regression analyze
was examined using the variables that had p-value lower than 0.05 from univariate lineer regression analysis.
Findings: Of the participants 50.8% was female. The ages ranged between 18-63, mean(SD) 32.6(9.6) years. According to the
results of multiple linear regression analysis, frequency of internet use, source of information about health, searching about the
doctor whomwill apply from the internet, leaving the physician's prescribed edication by getting information from the internet
and obsessive beliefs were found to be related to cyberchondria (F:25.825;p<0.001).
Conclusion & Significance: It is concluded that obsessive beliefs are positively related to cyberchondria. As cyberchondria
affects health related behaviors it is important to ensure reliable health information on internet. Cyberchondria tendency of
individuals with obsessive beliefs should be considered.
Recent Publications:
1. Norr AM, Oglesby ME, Raines AM, Macatee RJ, Allan NP, Schmidt NB (2015) Relationships between cyberchondria
and obsessive-compulsive symptom dimensions. Psychiatry research 230:441-446.
2. Fergus TA, Russell LH (2016) Does cyberchondria overlap with health anxiety and obsessive-compulsive symptoms?
An examination of latent structure and scale interrelations. Journal of anxiety disorders 38:88-94.
3. Starcevic V (2017) Cyberchondria: Challenges of Problematic Online Searches for Health-Related Information.
Psychotherapy and psychosomatics 86:129-133.
4. McElroy E, Shevlin M (2014) The development and initial validation of the cyberchondria severity scale (CSS). Journal
of anxiety disorders 28:259-265.
5. Obsessive Compulsive CognitionsWorking Group (2005) Psychometric validation of the obsessive belief questionnaire
and interpretation of intrusions inventory Part 2: Factor analyses and testing of a brief version. Behaviour Research
and Therapy 43:1527-1542.
Biography
Zeynep Demirtas has been graduated from Uludag University, Turkey as medical doctor in 2014. She is a research assistant at Public Health Department of Eskisehir
Osmangazi University Faculty of Medicine since 2016. She is interested in preventive medicine and community mental health subjects.
Zeynep Demirtas et al., Epidemiology (Sunnyvale) 2018, Volume 8
DOI: 10.4172/2161-1165-C1-021