Doctoral Program in Health Sciences and Sports, University of Zaragoza, Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain.
Faculty of Health Sciences, University of La Rioja, Logroño, La Rioja, Spain.
Front Public Health. 2023 Sep 22;11:1242092. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1242092. eCollection 2023.
Currently, access to the Internet through smartphones has led to their functions going beyond purely communicative ones, allowing the management of massive, instantaneous, and easily accessible information. This research analyzed the differences in smartphone use and the prevalence of nomophobia, mainly according to gender and university degree of Health Sciences students at the University of Zaragoza during the COVID-19 confinement in Spain.
A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out on a sample of 318 first and second-grade students, who completed an online questionnaire sent to their institutional email, which included sociodemographic questions, other questions about smartphone use, and the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) scale.
Compared to men ( = 58), women ( = 260) were more likely to use their smartphones more intensively daily, as were occupational therapy students compared to the other degree programs studied. The prevalence of nomophobia was moderate, being around the risk of suffering from it. No significant differences in scores for nomophobia among students were found according to gender, university degree, or population nucleus for the nomophobia scores of the students.
The present study extends the existing literature on nomophobia by providing results of interest in terms of gender and the exceptional healthcare context of COVID-19. The results suggest that despite intense daily smartphone use young people did not reach severe nomophobia figures. This fact underlines the need for appropriate and healthy technology education. Understanding the characteristics of the populations that use the smartphone the most may help to analyze nomophobia rates and the massive use of the device.
目前，通过智能手机上网的方式使得其功能超越了单纯的通信功能，允许管理大规模、即时和易于访问的信息。本研究根据性别和西班牙 COVID-19 封控期间萨拉戈萨大学健康科学专业的学生的大学学位，分析了智能手机使用差异和 nomophobia 患病率，主要根据性别和大学学位。
对 318 名一、二年级学生进行了描述性的横断面研究，他们通过发送到其机构电子邮件的在线问卷完成了调查，问卷包括社会人口学问题、其他关于智能手机使用的问题和 nomophobia 问卷 (NMP-Q) 量表。
与男性（ = 58）相比，女性（ = 260）更有可能每天更频繁地使用智能手机，与其他研究的学位课程相比，职业治疗学生也是如此。 nomophobia 的患病率为中度，接近患病风险。根据性别、大学学位或学生 nomophobia 分数的人口核心，学生的 nomophobia 分数没有发现显著差异。
本研究通过提供有关性别和 COVID-19 特殊医疗保健背景的有趣结果，扩展了 nomophobia 的现有文献。结果表明，尽管年轻人每天都在频繁地使用智能手机，但他们并没有达到严重的 nomophobia 程度。这一事实强调了适当和健康的技术教育的必要性。了解最常使用智能手机的人群的特点，可能有助于分析 nomophobia 率和设备的大规模使用。
