SURVEI PENGGUNAAN INTERNET UNTUK PENCARIAN INFORMASI KESEHATAN DI KALANGAN MAHASISWA NON-KESEHATAN

Abstract

Background: The Internet is one of the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) which can be used to obtain a wide variety of information. The use of the Internet causes information to be spread so fast and wide, including health information. However, people who search or receive information through internet access must respond wisely, especially its validity. Objective: This study aims to describe the use of the Internet to search for information regarding medicines, especially among non-health university students. Methods: This study is descriptive. The sampling technique used was accidental sampling. The respondents involved were as many as 341 non-health students. Data were collected through a questionnaire, tested for content validity and clarity of the language. The collected data were then analyzed using univariate analysis. Results: This study shows that 55.3% of respondents accessed the Internet to find health information in the past week. As many as 88,2% of respondents searched for this health information search through Google, 35.4% used the smartphone application Alodokter App, 42.8% accessed www.alodokter.com. As many as 82.7% of respondents stated that the Internet's use to search health information was beneficial (82.7%). Conclusion: Based on the findings, students' interest in using the Internet to search for health information is relatively high. Therefore, students need to be well informed about classifying and selecting health information on the Internet wisely.