Publication:

Impact of an educational intervention on internet usage, among students of an urban higher secondary school in Kochi, Kerala

Background Two-thirds of the 1.11 billion internet users globally are from developing countries. In India, there were 243 million internet users, in 2014. The objectives were to determine the impact of an educational intervention, on internet usage, to estimate the prevalence and to assess the pattern of usage and to assess factors associated with internet usage among students of a higher secondary school.

Methods A school-based interventional study was carried out in Model Technical Higher secondary school, randomly selected from a list of schools in the field practice area of the department. The minimum calculated sample size was 50. All students from 11th and 12th standards were included in the study. The intervention was an interactive health education session focussing on the efficient and safe use of the internet. Post-test data were collected one month after the intervention.

Results The prevalence of internet use was 97%, with the majority starting to use the internet between the ages of 11 and 14 years. Our intervention did not bring a significant change to the number of internet users; however, there was a significant decrease in the number of students using the internet from cafés, the safety concerns of which were addressed during the educational talk.

Conclusions The educational intervention had a positive impact on internet use among students. Therefore, identifying patterns of internet use among students and educating the youth regarding the proper use of the internet is essential.