The Relationship Between Internet Addiction, Loneliness and Sleep Quality Among Students of Nursing and Midwifery Faculty

Internet abuse has had a growing trend among medical students. This practice incurs negative consequences on many aspects of an individual’s life, including academic, professional, and communicative status as well as loneliness and sleep quality. These consequences have adverse effects on the quality of patient care and safety, as well as physical and mental health of students. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between Internet addiction and loneliness, and sleep quality among students of the Nursing and Midwifery Faculty. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 216 students of Zahedan Nursing and Midwifery Faculty during year 2016. The study population was selected through the stratified random sampling technique. The data were collected using the demographic form, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, University of California Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Data analysis was performed using independent t-test, analysis of variance (ANOVA), multivariate regression, and Pearson correlation coefficient in SPSS-20 software. According to the results, 62.1%, 10.3%, and 1% of the students had mild, moderate, and severe Internet addiction, respectively. The mean scores of Internet addiction, loneliness, and sleep quality were 37.92 ± 13.32, 44.11 ± 9.63, and 10.7 ± 5.29, respectively. Furthermore, there was a significant difference between males and females in terms of the mean Internet addiction and sleep quality (P < 0.001 and P = 0.02, respectively). Additionally, sleep quality showed a significant correlation with Internet addiction (r = 0.16, P = 0.01) and loneliness (r = 0.22, P = 0.001). Nevertheless, no significant relationship was observed between Internet addiction and loneliness. Moreover, 8% of the total variation of Internet addiction among students was dependent on sleep quality and gender. Considering the effects of Internet addiction on the health dimensions of students, it seems necessary to implement periodic educational courses, refer them to counseling centers, and perform interventional studies to assess the effectiveness of such programs.