Abstract:
ABSTRACT
Background: Using the Internet to retrieve health information is vital particularly for countries
with poor health status and have shortage of health professionals and limited number of health
care facilities. However, little is known about the status of accessing health information using the
internet services. Therefore this study sought to determine the magnitude of the Internet use for
health and its associated factors.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the status of Internet utilization to access health
information and its associated factors among the undergraduate students in Addis Ababa
University, Ethiopia.
Methods: A facility based cross-sectional study was conducted among 845 undergraduate
students who were selected by Stratified multi-stage sampling from 19 randomly selected
departments of Addis Ababa University. Data were collected from March to April 2019 using a
pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. The data were entered in to EPI
Info version 7 and exported to the SPSS version 23 for analysis. A binary logistic regression
analysis was conducted to assess the association between the study and outcome variables.
Result: Almost all 761 (98.8%) of the University students have used the Internet. Among these
the overall proportion of Internet use for health information was 59.1% (95% CI: 55.5-62.7).
Adjusting for all other factors in the final model, eHealth literacy (AOR=1.656, 95% CI: (1.143,
2.397), students field of study (AOR= 0.025, 95% CI: (0.007, 0.087), year of study (AOR=
1.609, 95% CI: (1.130, 2.290), and computer device ownership (AOR= 2.314, 95% CI: (1.392,
3.844) were found to be significantly associated with the Internet use for health information.
Conclusion and recommendation: The proportion of Internet use for health information was
found to be somewhat lower so that there is a need to promote eHealth in the country as a viable
platform for health interventions and health care. eHealth literacy, field of study, year of study
and device owner ship were found to be important predictors for the Internet use for health
information purposes.
Key words: Internet, health information, student, Addis Ababa University
