cyberchondria in nursing students during the covid-19 pandemic

Background: the covid-19 pandemic showed that this viral infection, in addition to acute physical complications, causes psychological problems, anxiety, stress, and exacerbation of cyberchondria. this study aimed to assess the severity of cyberchondria in nursing students in lorestan province identified as the center of the covid-19 outbreak in iran. methods: this descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on 200 nursing students of islamic azad university in the involved province using an online questionnaire. the subjects were recruited by convenience sampling method. the research instrument was the 15-item cyberchondria severity scale (css-15), whose link was sent to all nursing students. data analysis was performed by descriptive statistics and independent t-test in spss software v. 18. the significance level was set at less than 0.05. results: the majority of the respondents (51.5%) were male, and 17.5% of them had a history of chronic diseases and did not refer to any physician due to self-medication and fear of the coronavirus. the mean±sd score of cyberchondria severity was 33.52±5.59. there was a significant difference between the male and female students in the subscales of compulsion (p=0.0001), excessiveness (p=0.007), reassurance (p=0.004), and distress (p=0.0001). but the total cyberchondria severity was not associated with the age and gender of the students. conclusion: during the covid-19 outbreak, the nursing students were affected by some constructs of cyberchondria that could be a sign of anxiety risk and might affect their healthseeking behaviors and mental health. therefore, psychological counseling is needed to provide this group of healthcare professionals.