Knowledge and Attitude about Internet Resources among
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2 117
MeThOdOlOgy
The present survey study was carried out on undergraduate and postgraduate students of Physical therapy, studying in Kasturba Medical College, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. Following verbal explanation of purpose of the study and complete explanation of questionnaire, signed written informed consent was obtained from the willing participants. The study consisted of 16 self-administered close ended questions, which was distributed to the willing participants. The returned questionnaires were inspected for completeness and consistency.
Total 117 participants were included through purposive sampling; the data obtained was analyzed using SPSS v.16. Frequency distribution and percentage were computed. Chi-Square test was employed to detect the association between the gender, degree, and the year the student is studying. P value of <0.05 was kept as level of statistical significance.
ReSulTS
In questionnaire format 9 questions were regarding knowledge of source and 7 were assessing attitude of students towards use of internet resources in academic teaching. Total selected sample was 117 and response rate was 100%. Among samples 94(80.3%) were females and 23(19.7%) were males, percentage of undergraduates were more, 101(86.3%) compared to postgraduates 16 (13.7%) as shown in Table 1.
Table 1: demographic characteristics Characteristics description N (%)
Gender Male 23 (19.7)
Female 94 (80.3)
Contd…
Degree BPT* 101(86.3)
MPT** 16 (13.7)
Year
BPT 1 41 (35)
BPT 2 28 (23.9) BPT 3 17 (14.5) BPT 4 15 (12.8)
MPT 1 6 (5.1)
MPT 2 10 (8.5)
*BPT, Bachelor of Physical therapy; **MPT, Master of Physical therapy.
Results of present survey revealed that 100% of students had basic computer knowledge and had used internet. 83.8% of students were regular users, 91.5%
students used own laptop/smartphones over other services for accessing internet. Most of the student’s i.e.
78.6% used internet for entertainment purpose and only 19.7% for academic purpose. Despite of good computer knowledge among students and 70.9% students who could search medical labelled websites, only 18.8%
were regular users. Our study also revealed that females were comparatively frequent users of internet for educational purpose than males (p=0.041). There were significant differences in the usage of internet among undergraduates and postgraduates, with former were using internet for entertainment purpose whereas later mostly for academic purposes (p= 0.000).
According to present survey 53.8% of students had knowledge of source, among this postgraduate student had good knowledge of source compared with undergraduates (p=0.000). The chi-square test showed a strong association of overall knowledge of source with the degree a student is pursuing (p<0.05). Greater percentage of the students had positive attitude (88%) towards use of internet resources in teaching as shown in table 2 & 3.
Table 2: Knowledge of internet resources among students
CharacteristicsN (117) Overall knowledge of sourceyes No Chi-Square value p
degree BPT* (N=101) 47 54
15.887 0.000#
MPT** (N= 16) 16 0
year
BPT 1 17 24
BPT 2 12 16
BPT 3 09 08
BPT 4 09 06
MPT 1 06 0
MPT 2 10 0
Percentage 53.8% 46.2%
#, p<0.05; * BPT, Bachelor of Physical therapy; ** MPT, Master of Physical therapy.
118 Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2
Table 3: Attitude of students toward use of internet resources in academic teaching Characteristics Attitude towards internet
Chi-Square value p
N (117) Positive Negative
degree BPT* (N=101) 88 13
0.575 0.448
MPT** (N= 16) 15 01
year
BPT 1 39 02
BPT 2 24 04
BPT 3 14 03
BPT 4 11 04
MPT 1 06 0
MPT 2 09 01
Percentage 88% 12%
* BPT, Bachelor of Physical therapy; ** MPT, Master of Physical therapy Nearly 91.5% of students agree that internet
resources may be offered as supplement to teaching.
Around 69.2% of students believe that the faculties lack in providing websites related to teaching. In present survey, major percentage of students (53%) reported that lack of time being a barrier for using internet and most of the students preferred internet over textbook since they believe internet is a source of latest knowledge (58.1%) and it conserves time (29.1%).
dISCuSSION
There have been rapid advances in communication and information technology. In the past years these technology is being utilized by medical professionals is rising. The response rate of the students was 100%, 83.8%
were regular users and most (91.5%) used own laptop or smartphone to access the internet. This may be due to the rapid increase in the smartphone usage in developing countries in recent years as well as improvement in the distribution of information technology resources.10,13-15 There was greater percentage of female internet users who used internet majorly for academic related information, which was in accordance with the previous study carried out in India.11
Present survey showed that the percentage of internet users for entertainment purpose is higher than that of academic purpose, which is in accordance with the previous study conducted by Inamdar SC et.al.13 This may also be due to the higher percentage of undergraduate students who participated in the study. The significant differences in the purpose of internet usage among undergraduates and postgraduates may be due to gradual
increase in awareness of academic related resources from first year of under graduation to post graduation.2
This survey showed that major percentage of students believe and expect faculties to provide the website related to teaching. Also, most of the students preferred internet resources to use as supplement to teaching. These results are in accordance with the previous studies done by Taher E et.al.10 About 58.1% percent students preferred internet over textbooks due to newest information provided by internet, and it allows students to focus on managing their own learning and to work at their own time and place.9,11 Though the advantage of internet use is several the information provided must be reviewed to the fullest.
Additionally, it is important to train the students in Web-based search tools and techniques to find high-quality information resources.
Present survey was limited only to Physical therapy students of Kasturba Medical College, Mangaluru. Since it was a purposive sampling and confined only to physical therapy students, sample size was relatively minimal.
Despite the barrier faced like lack of time to utilize the internet, about 83.8% students were regular users.
CONCluSION
Although the knowledge of the source is good, its academic application was limited compared to general purpose especially in undergraduate students. Having greater percentage of positive attitude of students towards internet usage for teaching purpose, use of the same as supplement is encouraged with cautious appraisal of information.
Indian Journal of Public Health Research & Development, April-June 2018, Vol.9, No. 2 119 Conflict of Interest: None declared
ethical Clearance: The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the department head.
Source of Funding: This was a self-funded project
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