ACHLUOPHOBIA AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS IN CHENNAI - A CROSS-SECTIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE SURVEY

Abstract

Background: Phobia is an excessive and irrational fear reaction. Achluophobia is the scientific term for the fear of darkness. It is one type of specific phobia also called scotophobia or nyctophobia. The fear of darkness is one of the most common fears among children. The aim of this study was to assess achluophobia among college students in Chennai.

Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted among dental students in Chennai. The questionnaire was then circulated among the dental students in Chennai using Google forms and 100 responses were collected.  Chi square test is used for analysis of data using (IBM) SPSS software.

Results: It was observed that achluophobia was more/higher among the females compared to males. It was also found that achluophobia is more among the age group 18 to 19 years compared to the other age groups.  The frequencies and percentages were calculated and The data is statistically analyzed by using IBM SPSS software version 23. Descriptive analysis was performed to calculate frequencies of various categories. Chi-square test was used to find the association between gender with a number of responses provided by the participants.

Conclusion: By this study it can be concluded that achluophobia is normal among the college students and may persist further. And it is an important topic that deserves further examination.