Journal of Education and Health Promotion

Abstract BACKGROUND: COVID‑19 initiated in December 2019 in Wuhan, China, and over a period of
time, the infection outspread across the world in a rapid pace. To protect the people and to further
limit the spread of infection, lockdown was declared in most parts of the world including India.
As all people were forced to stay indoors during this pandemic, internet was the only source of
entertainment whose overuse has side effects on anxiety and sleep quality. This study is aimed to
know the impact of Internet addiction during COVID‑19 on anxiety and sleep quality among college
students of Bhubaneswar city.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a web‑based cross‑sectional, questionnaire study. It
administered 475 students from six colleges. The students were assessed by a proforma containing
demographic details, patterns of internet use, Youngs Internet Addiction Test, Generalised Anxiety
disorder score, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS
version 21.0 using Chi‑square test and Wilcoxon signed‑rank test.
RESULTS: The mean age of the study group was 18.81 ± 1.189. Out of 475 students, 60.6% were
female and 39.4% were male. 23.6% and 13.4% of recruited students had severe internet addiction
and anxiety disorder, respectively. The mean global PSQI score in the study was 6.356 ± 1.88.
About 84.6% of the students had poor global sleep quality score. All components of sleep quality
were significantly associated (P = 0.000) with different degrees of internet addiction except sleep
duration (P = 0.589) and efficiency (P = 0.767).
CONCLUSION: Females were highly addicted than males. The study findings specified that students’
excessive internet usage leads to anxiety, and affects mental health. Monitoring and controlling
students’ internet addiction through informative sessions on how to use the Internet adequately is
useful.

Abstract INTRODUCTION: Inequalities persists in distribution, accessibility, and utilization of oral health
services between urban and rural population. One approach to lessen this inequality is by incorporating
rural outreach programs in the academic curriculum of health‑care professionals.
OBJECTIVES: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of outreach
programs on academic development, personal development, and civic responsibilities of dental
students and also to assess the changes in the domain scores within and between genders
postintervention.
METHODOLOGY: The study population consisted of 100 dental students. The study methodology
followed a before and after without control informal experimental study designs. At baseline, the
participants were administered pretested structured questionnaire developed by D. Diaz Gallegos.
Intervention involved posting participants in various rural outreach activities and academic field visits in
various public health installations. Apostintervention questionnaire developed by Anu F. Shinnamon et al.
was administered to assess the change from the baseline. The change in domain scores was assessed
using paired and unpaired t‑test appropriately. P ≤ 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
RESULTS: The baseline scores of academic, personal, and civic domains were 6.05 ± 2.44,
8.04 ± 2.84, and 6.36 ± 2.23 which increased to 6.52 ± 2.10, 13.56 ± 3.44, and 8.55 ± 2.71
postintervention, respectively (P ≤ 0.05). When comparing within genders, there was increase from
the baseline, and this change in the scores postintervention was statistically significant (P = 0.001).
The mean scores of all three domains between genders were statistically insignificant.
CONCLUSION: The outreach programs developed and enhanced the subject’s academic skills,
leadership qualities, self‑confidence, communication skills, managerial skills, and responsibilities
toward the rural community.