Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences Patna, Bihar, India.
Junior Resident, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangaluru, Karnataka, India.
Psychiatr Danub. 2023 Fall;35(3):407-417. doi: 10.24869/psyd.2023.407.
Overuse of smartphone amongst today's young generation has assumed an epidemic proportion. Assessment of severity of Nomophobia and Smartphone use related problems is important as it can help to ascertain the current adverse consequences of Smartphone problematic use. The study aims to assess the association between smartphone dependence, nomophobia and quality of life in undergraduate medical and nursing students in a tertiary care referral hospital cum medical institution in India.
This cross-sectional study involved 437 medical and nursing undergraduate students, which involved assessing their dependence for smartphone and nomophobia using the Test for Mobile Phone dependence (TMD) questionnaire brief version and Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) respectively.
The average hours spent on smartphone per day for the study population was 3.2 hours. Smartphone dependence was found in 12% of study participants. Nearly 50% in each batch had moderate degree of nomophobia and around 13-15% had severe nomophobia. Both smartphone dependence and nomophobia were significantly associated with each other and had significant associations with poorer quality of life in the medical and nursing students. Preclinical medical students scored higher in all the domains of Smartphone dependence and nomophobia questionnaire and were associated with poor quality of life compared to other batches.
Excessive smartphone use is associated with poorer quality of life in medical and nursing students. More studies in future are required that will involve various age groups and other educational streams which willadd up to the existing knowledge on technology addiction.
当今年轻一代过度使用智能手机已经达到了流行的程度。评估手机成瘾程度和与智能手机使用相关问题的严重程度很重要，因为这有助于确定智能手机使用问题的当前不良后果。本研究旨在评估印度一家三级保健转诊医院兼医疗机构中，医学生和护生的智能手机依赖、手机恐惧症与生活质量之间的关系。
这是一项横断面研究，共纳入 437 名医学生和护生，分别使用手机依赖测试（TMD）问卷简表和手机恐惧症问卷（NMP-Q）评估他们对智能手机的依赖程度和手机恐惧症。
研究人群每天使用智能手机的平均时间为 3.2 小时。12%的研究参与者存在智能手机依赖。每批学生中约有 50%有中度手机恐惧症，约有 13-15%有严重手机恐惧症。智能手机依赖和手机恐惧症均显著相关，且与医学生和护生的生活质量较差显著相关。与其他批次相比，预科医学生在智能手机依赖和手机恐惧症问卷的所有领域的得分都较高，与较差的生活质量相关。
过度使用智能手机与医学生和护生的生活质量较差有关。未来需要进行更多研究，涉及各个年龄组和其他教育领域，这将增加关于技术成瘾的现有知识。
