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The internet facilitates quick and effortless retrieval of information which plays a pivotal role in health decision-making processes among individuals including undergraduate students. The aim of this descriptive cross-sectional study is to assess the perception of the influence of internet use on health decision-making among a convenient sample of 266 undergraduate nursing students of University of Benin, Edo State. The instrument for data collection was a 29-item self-structured questionnaire including questions on socio-demographic variables, extent of use of the internet, credibility and reliability of online health information, the influence of internet use for health information and factors that influence effective internet utilization. Descriptive statistics was used for data analysis with significance value set at p<0.05. Results revealed that majority of the respondents 262(98.5%) reported that they primarily use smart-phones to access the internet while 4(1.5%) primarily uses laptops. 59(22.2%) of the respondents seek health information’s online several times a day, with a significant portion 248(93.2%) using it for health-related purposes. However, many students 125(47.0%) of the respondents reported difficulty in identifying reputable health websites, 43(16.2%) reported difficulty in understanding complex terminology. In conclusion the influence of the internet on health decision-making for nursing students is both positive and negative. It is recommended that guidelines should be used for verifying the reliability of online health information sources to ensure informed decision-making. Future research can focus on longitudinal studies to track changes in internet usage patterns and comparative studies should be carried out on other students to identify unique challenges.
Keywords: internet, health decision-making, perception, health-related information.
