Assessment of Mental Health Concerns among Students in Addis Ababa University through Online Platform: Self-Diagnosis, Coping Mechanisms and Influence on Academic Performance
| dc.contributor.advisor | Belay Tefera | |
| dc.contributor.author | Genet Mekuria | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-08-19T09:43:46Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-08-19T09:43:46Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2026-06 | |
| dc.description.abstract | This mixed-methods study conducted in June 2026 assessed the relationships between general mental health distress, digital health tracking, self-diagnosis, and academic functioning among 400 undergraduate students at Addis Ababa University. The results showed that 78% of all surveyed participants utilized online platforms to research their health symptoms when feeling unwell, relying primarily on smartphones to access Google and various artificial intelligence tools. Within the subgroup of 312 active online health information seekers, a striking 87.8% reported experiencing moderate to high levels of baseline psychological distress. Moreover, the study identified significant behavioral consequences of these habits, noting that 55.4% of the student population displayed moderate cyberchondria and 8.3% suffered from high cyberchondria. Pearson correlation analyses confirmed that using online resources as a digital coping mechanism was associated with an increase, rather than a reduction, in mental distress (r=.253, p<.01), functioning as a maladaptive behavioral loop that feeds health anxiety. This elevated mental distress was subsequently found to have a significant negative correlation with general life satisfaction (r=-.274, p<.01) and a positive correlation with negative academic impacts (r=.201), indicating that unmanaged digital searching explicitly disrupts concentration, study workflows, and subjective well-being. Keywords: Cyberchondria, mental health distress, online self-diagnosis, digital coping mechanisms, health anxiety, | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/8888 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | |
| dc.publisher | Addis Ababa University | |
| dc.subject | Cyberchondria | |
| dc.subject | mental health distress | |
| dc.subject | online self-diagnosis | |
| dc.subject | digital coping mechanisms | |
| dc.subject | health anxiety | |
| dc.title | Assessment of Mental Health Concerns among Students in Addis Ababa University through Online Platform: Self-Diagnosis, Coping Mechanisms and Influence on Academic Performance | |
| dc.type | Thesis |