The Relationship of Internet Dependence with Social Competence in Nursing Students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Iran

Background: Dependence on the Internet leads to disruption or distress in various aspects of life. One of the important underlying factors of Internet addiction is the lack of social skills, and considering the importance of social skills as the core of social competence, the researchers decided to investigate the prevalence of Internet addiction and its relationship with social competence in this study in nursing students of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran. Methods: During a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional study, 260 undergraduate nursing students were examined in the second half of the academic year 2018-2019 by stratified sampling method with proportional allocation. In order to collect data, a three-part questionnaire of demographic information and information related to the use of the Internet, Young's standard questionnaire, and Felner's social adequacy questionnaire were used. In the end, after being entered in the SSPS software, the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and appropriate statistical analysis. Findings: The overall mean score of Internet addiction was mild. Most of the students (77.6%) had mild addiction and a small percentage (1.3%) had severe addiction to the Internet. The findings indicated that the overall average score of students' social competence was good. Besides, the majority of students (67.1%) had good, 28.1% had very good, and 4.8% had average social competence. A significant and negative correlation was found between Internet addiction and social competence, and students who had a higher average score of Internet addiction obtained a lower average score of social competence. Conclusion: Considering the inverse relationship between Internet dependence and social adequacy, it is recommended that universities and educational centers try to develop a culture and promote healthy behaviors in nursing students with various educational, counseling, and behavioral programs.