فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: The advent of internet has triggered a growth in provision of more interactivehealth promotion messages, which are likely to enhance the potential for behavior changeespecially among children. We intended to find out the determinants and prevalence of useof internet among school students of Puducherry. Materials and Methods: An exploratorystudy was carried out among all the students belonging to the standards VI to IX (n = 421) inthree schools from urban areas and two schools from rural areas of Puducherry. A pretested,self-administered questionnaire which sought information on sociodemographic details (age,gender, standard of education, occupation of father, and type of school), use of internet, andplace of accessing internet, hours of use, and reasons for use was utilized. The statisticalsignificance between the categorical variables was done using chi-square test. All significancetests were two-tailed and statistical significance was defined as a value of P < 0.05. Results:Majority (72.2%) were boys. Less than one-third (23.8%) of the students used internet. Theuse of internet was found to be significantly higher in mid-adolescents (Adjusted OR: 2.205);among boys (Adjusted OR: 3.835) and students from urban areas (Adjusted OR: 4.694).Conclusion: There is a geographical and gender divide observed among the school childrenin the use of internet. Taking the steps to bridging the digital divide will help utilize internet asa media for health promotion.