Abstract
Computers and the internet has revolutionised all aspects of medicine and dentistry, and internet and social networks are now common among young doctors. The aim of this study was to evaluate information technology (IT) literacy among senior dental students of Tehran, Iran.
Method: A questionnaire was constructed based on previous literature and some researcher- made questions. After checking for reliability and validity, we collected data on self-reported internet and computer use. The ethics committee of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) approved the survey. All numerical data were entered and analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 18). Initial descriptive statistics were expressed as frequency, mean and standard deviation. A regression model served for statistical analysis.
Results: In total 218 questionnaires out of 250 were returned for an overall response rate of 85%. The student score for computer use ranged between 7 and 28 with a mean of 18.6(±4) out of a maximum of 28. Also their score for internet searching ranged between 6 and 24 with a mean of 15.3(±4) out of a maximum of 24. Among students 67% (n=145) searched daily in Medline, 73% (n=160) used search engines such as Google. Most, 81% (n=176) of students had skills in windows, 72% (n=157) in advanced web searching, 77% (n=168) in Microsoft Office software and 16% (n=34) in SPSS. In the regression model we found that internet searching is related to computer use with a relation coefficient of 0.607 among respondents (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Considering the mean scores, senior dental students’ IT literacy is not sufficient and most of the students reported the need to gain more searching skills. This suggests more training and providing better infrastructure to promote their IT literacy.
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