Clinical and Psychological Factors Associated with Addiction and Compensatory Use of Facebook Among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Giovana Signorelli Astolfi Cury; Debora Mayumi Takamune; Giedre Soares Prates Herrerias; Adriana Rivera-Sequeiros; Jaqueline Ribeiro de Barros; Julio Pinheiro Baima; Rogerio Saad-Hossne; Ligia Yukie Sassaki

doi:10.2147/IJGM.S334099

Clinical and Psychological Factors Associated with Addiction and Compensatory Use of Facebook Among Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Int J Gen Med. 2022 Feb 11:15:1447-1457. doi: 10.2147/IJGM.S334099. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Giovana Signorelli Astolfi Cury¹, Debora Mayumi Takamune¹, Giedre Soares Prates Herrerias¹, Adriana Rivera-Sequeiros², Jaqueline Ribeiro de Barros¹, Julio Pinheiro Baima¹, Rogerio Saad-Hossne¹, Ligia Yukie Sassaki¹

Affiliations

¹ São Paulo State University (Unesp), Medical School, Botucatu, Brazil.
² Department of Internal Medicine, San Juan de Dios del Aljarafe Hospital, Seville, Spain.

Abstract

Background: Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic conditions characterized by incapacitating symptoms, which can compromise patient's quality of life and social interaction. As social media use is continuously increasing and Facebook is one of the most accessed social media worldwide, this study aimed to evaluate the use of Facebook and identify clinical and psychological factors associated with addiction and compensatory use among patients.

Methods: This case-control study enrolled 100 outpatients and 100 healthy individuals, who were classified into the patient and control groups, respectively. Facebook use was evaluated using the questionnaire Psycho-Social Aspects of Facebook Use (PSAFU). The IBD Questionnaire and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used to measure Health-related quality of life. Anxiety and depression were evaluated using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; self-esteem, using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale.

Results: The patient group included 54 patients with Crohn's disease and 46 with ulcerative colitis. Facebook use was similar between the patient and control groups in all evaluated aspects (p=0.21). In the patient and the control groups, the compensatory use of Facebook was directly related to the symptoms of depression (patients: R = 0.22; p = 0.03; controls: R = 0.34; p = 0.0006) and inversely related to self-esteem scale (patients: R = -0.27; p = 0.006; controls: R = -0.37; p = 0.0001). Facebook addiction showed an inverse correlation with self-esteem (patients: R = -0.32; p = 0.001; controls: R = -0.24; p = 0.02) and quality of life (patients: IBDQ score, R = -0.30; p = 0.003; controls: SF-36 score, R = -0.29; p = 0.004).

Conclusion: The use of Facebook was not different between study groups. Psychological aspects such as depression and low self-esteem were associated with the compensatory use of Facebook in both groups, which may be related to unsatisfactory personal aspects of social interaction.

Keywords: Facebook; addiction; compensatory use; inflammatory bowel disease.

Grants and funding

This study was financed in part by “Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES)” –, Finance Code 001. Giovana Signorelli Astolfi Cury and Debora Mayumi Takamune have received scholarship: grant #2018/05705-6, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and grant #2018/05571-0, São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), respectively.