Assessment of Social Media Addiction and Its Link to Psychological Distress: A Comparative Study On Undergraduate Students

ABSTRACT Background and objective: Addiction to social networking sites (SNSs) is their unhealthy use that interferes with daily functionality and results in unwanted outcomes. This study investigates the prevalence and intensity as well as the impact of SNSs addiction on the daily routine among young undergraduate students. In addition, it evaluates the relationship between psychological suffering and SNSs addiction. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among undergraduate students of Karachi, Pakistan from January to June 2022. Data was collected using non-probability convenience sampling technique. A self-administered questionnaire was used, compiled from two validated questionnaires, Young’s internet addiction (YIA) test and Depression-Anxiety-Stress scale (DASS 21). The SPSS software version 25.0 was used to analyze the collected data. In the 95% confidence interval, statistical analysis was set at a p-value of 0.05 as the threshold for statistical significance. Results: Total 40.7% undergraduate students were found to have no internet addiction, followed by 34.3% mildly, 21.0% moderately and only 4% students severely addicted. Around 28% young undergraduate students were suffering from extremely severe depression (DASS score 28+) followed by 24.0% with moderate (DASS score 14-20), 14.0 % with severe (DASS score 21-27) and 13.7 % with mild depression (DASS score 10-13), while 20.3 % were found not depressed (DASS score 0-9). Mean age of 21 years was found to be consistent for having internet addiction and depression both. Cross study of internet addiction shows highly suggestive behavior with depression (p \u3c 0.01). Conclusion: Social networking sites addiction is found to be a major contributing factor for depression in young undergraduate students. Out of all the aspects of life, education is found to be the most severely affected domain of life among students with SNS addiction

Practice of Medical Ethics among House Officers at Tertiary Care Hospital in Karachi

Medical malpractice is commonly seen in public as well as private hospitals of Pakistan. Most institutions in Pakistan do not emphasize the practice of medical ethics. To determine the awareness of medical ethics among house officers A cross sectional study was conducted on house officers posted at Medicine, Surgery, and Gynecology and Obstetrics Ward of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, Karachi from December 2020 till June 2021. All recent graduates between the ages of 18 and 30, who worked as a full-time house-officer were eligible to partake in the study. All doctors who were not designated as house officers and other healthcare professionals including nurses were excluded from the study. A structured questionnaire was used to examine the participants\u27 knowledge, attitude, and practice of medical ethics. A total of 227 house officers participated in this study. Out of these, majority considered the knowledge of medical ethics very important during their work however, most participants (59%) had not read the PMDC code of medical ethics. Surprisingly three house officers assumed it was not important at all. Upon further interrogation 16 percent said that they find the task of obtaining informed consent to be very challenging. Conclusion: A lack of knowledge of medical ethics amongst house officers was seen. This is due to the lack of emphasis on teaching medical ethics in the medical curriculum. To ensure quality health care to patients, medical ethics teachings should be made mandatory in the medical curriculum