A Study to Assess the Prevalence of Excessive use of Internet Game among Nursing students, at selected nursing College, Thrissur

 

Sreelekshmi S.¹, Kavitha B.²

¹IV^th Year B.Sc Nursing Student, Aswini College of Nursing, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

²Professor, Aswini College of Nursing, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

 

ABSTRACT:

With the popularity of high-tech devices (such as computers, tablet and smartphones) and internet use in recent years, playing online and offline games has become a popular activity especially among the younger people. Persistent and recurrent use of theinternet to engage in games, often with other players leading to clinically significantimpairment or distress. Such adolescents are expected to exhibit prominent relationships among the family environment, parent child relationship, academic performance and sleep disturbances. In view to this a study was undertaken toassess the prevalence andexcessive use of internet games among nursing students, in selected nursing college, Thrissur”. The Objectives were to assess the prevalence ofexcessive use of internetgames among nursing students with their selected demographic variables. The researchapproach adapted for this study was Quantitative Approach and design was descriptivedesign was used for this study. The sample selected for this study was the age group of18 to>24 years who are studying in Ist year and 4^th year B.sc nursing at Aswini collegeof nursing at, Thrissur. Purposive Sampling Technique was adopted and Sample size forthis study consist of 118 students studying in 1st year and 4th year at Aswini college ofnursing, Thrissur. The data was collected by using Demographicprofile of nursingstudents and Internet Gaming Disorder Scale. The result analysis showed that out of 118 samples 06 students i.e., 4.1% of students have scored more than 23which meant that they haveprevalence of excessive use of Internet games and 94.9% i.e 112 students does not have the habit of excessive use of internet games.

 

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

In this modern era, technology plays an important role in every walk of human life. People are using the latest technologies for information and entertainment which areproviding wide ranges of benefits to human community. With the popularity of high-techdevices (such as computers, tablet and smart phones) and internet use in recent years, playingonline games has become a popular activity especially among the younger people. In thisvirtual world online gaming touches its highest level¹.

 

According to world health organization out of 7.2 billion people worldwide, over 3billion are younger than 25 year, making up 42% of the world population. Around 1.2billion of these young people are adolescents aged between 10 and 19 years. The mostactive adopters of the Internet and modern technologies have been adolescents and youngadults, reflecting the fact that they have grown up in an environment with a well-developed internet².

 

Excessive use of internet games leads to internet gaming disorder. Minors areknown to be particularly susceptible to problematic internet gaming use owing to agerelated underdevelopment of cognitive control. Persistent and recurrent use of the internetto engage in games, often with other players leading to clinically significant impairment ordistress. Such adolescents are expected to exhibit prominent relationships among thefamily environment, parent child relationship, academic performance and sleep disturbances³.

 

Nick Yee, a scientist who made one of the first steps in building a framework for studying motivations, found three motivation components for playing games1. There is the achievement component, which includes the want to advance in the game, the interest in the rules and system of the game, and the want to compete with others. Next is the socialcomponent, which is the want to form connections with others, liking to chat and help otherplayers, and the want to be a part of a group effort. Last, there is the immersion component, which is creating and customizing a character to play in the unique story of the game aswell as wanting to a escape from real-life⁴.

 

A study was done to assess the level of online gaming addiction among youth inKerala. The objectives of the study was to study the impact of online gaming, to know theaddiction level of online games and to know the different types of online gaming disorderamong youth. Descriptive study has been used for this study. Data for this study wascollected by means of respondents from Kerala. The sample size was 200. The data for thestudy has been collected from both primary and secondary data. Primary data has beencollected through structured questionnaire. While secondary data has been collected fromvarious websites and journals. The sample population for the study has been taken fromKerala and sample size is 200. The tool used for analysing the data collected is percentageanalysis. The result interpretated that Out of this total study 57.5% of respondents are maleand remaining 42.5% are female, Majority players are from Ernakulum, Kozhikode andMalappuram districts, Gaming hours of respondents (47.5%)were recorded in between 6 to 20 hours in a week, 32% were responded neutrally on theinterruption of sleeping due to online games and 13% were not disrupted their sleepinghours, 32.5% of respondents may or may not agree that they use online gaming as a wayof escaping from stress and depression and 40% of respondents have severe headache due to playing games⁵.

 

The researcher had themselves seen her friends playing onlinegame intensively, so a curiosity raised to assess the prevalence of excessive use of internetgames among nursing students. Literature search also showed that even though all agegroups are engaged in playing online games, the rate is higher among the adolescent andyouth group. The reasons behind this higher rate are found to be the peer group influence, excitements, escape from reality etc. By taking all these facts in to consideration we haveplanned to conduct a study to assess the prevalence of excessive use of internet gamesamong nursing students

 

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A study to assess the prevalence of excessive use of internet game among nursingstudents at selected nursing college, Thrissur.

 

OBJECTIVES:

1. To assess the prevalence of excessive use of internet games among nursingstudents

 

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

In this study, reviews are collected and organized under following headings namely,

1. Reviews related to prevalence of Internet Gaming disorder among nursing students.

2. Reviews related to interventions in Internet gaming disorder.

3. Reviews related to validation of internet gaming disorder scale

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

·       Research approach; qualitative approach

·       Research design; descriptive design

·       Setting of the study; Aswini college of nursing

·       Sample and sample size;118 first year and fourth year BSc students

 

Description of the tool;

Section A: Demographic profile:

The Demographic profile consist of variables such as age, gender, class, Educational status of father and mother, Economic status of family, place of residence of student, Birth order, No. of close friends,types of online games player, type of device used for playing online games, Ownership of device used for playing online games, No of hours spend on online games during working days, No of hours spend on online games on weekends, Money spent on buying online games, Reason for playing online games.

 

Section B: Internet Gaming Disorder Scale –Short-Form (IGDS9:

The Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form IGDS9-SF was developed by Dr. Halley Pontes, psychologist and a brief standardized psychometric tool to assess Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). The IGDS9-SF is a uni dimensional tool comprising a total of 9 items reflecting all nine criteria for IGD as mentioned in the DSM-5. This IGDS9-SF had its psychometric properties extensively investigated and satisfactory results at several levels, such as Construct validity (i.e., factorial, convergent); (ii)criterion-related validity; (iii) concurrent validity, (iv)cross-cultural validity. The IGDS9-SF has also been shown to be reliable according to several indicators of reliability.

 

THE RESULT:

The analysis shows that out of 118 samples,

Majority 43 students (36.44%) of the students belongs to age of 22-24 years, and 103 students (87.29%) were female students. Considerably 7 students (5.93%) have no close friends. most 51(43.22%) of the students played offline games, 22(18.64%) played single player game, 35 (29.66%) played multiplayer online games and 10 (8.47%) played multi player online games. 82 students (69.49%) used mobile phones for playing and that too of their own 82(69.49%). interestingly 50 students (15.25%) spend <1hr, 18(15.25%) are spend 1-2 hr and 7(5.93%) spend 2-5 hour during the working days for playing internet games where as 35 students (29.66%) have spend<1hr, 31(26.27%) are spend 1-2 hrs and 7(5.93%) are spend 2-5 hrs during weekends for playing internet games.

 

Fortunately, 81(68.64%) are spend Rs-500 to Rs-2000, 17(14.40%) spend Rs-2000 to Rs-4000, 10(8.47%) spend Rs-4000 to Rs-6000, 1(0.85%) spend Rs-6000 to Rs-8000 and 9(0.08%) spend >Rs 8000 buying online games. Regarding reason for playing online games, 17(14.40%) playing for excitement, 65(55.08%) playing for fun, 32(27.11%) playing for relaxation, 4(3.39%) for gain status among friends and 1(0.85%) played by compulsion of friends.

 

Table 1: Frequency and Percentage distribution of prevalence of excessive use of Internet games among nursing students. N=118

SI No	Score interpretation	Prevalence of use of internet games
		frequency	percentage
1	Non gamers	112	94.91%
2	Gamers	6	5.08%

 

Table 1pinpoints the Prevalence of excessive use of Internet games among nursingstudents which was assessed by Internet Gaming Addiction Scale. Out of 118 samples5.08%, i.e., 6 nursing students have scored more than 24 which meant that they haveexcessive use of Internet games.

 

CONCLUSION:

Internet gaming has become most popular activity among the modern people. Everyone has their own reason behind playing online games. Some people consider gaming as a mode of entertainment, where as some others are using gaming as a tool to escape from stress in life. For most individuals gaming is an enjoyable and stimulating activity. Excessive use of internet games causes physical, mental and social problems among the players. The present study reveals that 94% of gamers are having mild level of Bio-psychosocial impact of excessive use of internet games, 6% have moderate level of Bio-psychosocial impact of excessive use of internet games and surprisingly no students (0%) have severe Bio-psychosocial impact of excessive use of internet games.

 

REFERENCES:

1.      Online games, Wikipedia. Available from: en.m.wikipedia.org.

2.      World health organization. “Coming of Age Adolescent Health”. Available from: WHO.int

3.      Vamkrishnaundavalli, Gobburisudha Rami, Jonnalagadda Ravikumar. “Prevalence of internet gaming disorder in India, A technological hazard among adolescents”. International Journal of Community Medicine and Publishers, vol 7,NO2(2020).

4.      Richard Ryan and Edward Deci, “Self determination theory”. American Psychological Association,18 December 2017. Available on: https://www.apa.org/intrinsicmotivation

5.      Ahamadh Mamoun Rajah et al. “Gaming Addiction and perceived stress among Saudi Adolescence”. Vol 2 June 2020. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100261.

 

Received on 03.03.2022         Modified on 12.04.2022

Accepted on 02.05.2022       ©A&V Publications All right reserved