A Cross-sectional Study on Nomophobia among Undergraduate Medical Students in Chennai, India
Introduction: Nomophobia is the fear of being away from mobile phone contact or in other words nomophobia is the irrational fear of being without mobile phone. Nomophobia is an emerging psychological public health problem. Aim: To determine the prevalence of nomophobia and pattern of mobile pho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
JCDR Research and Publications Private Limited
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://jcdr.net/articles/PDF/15772/51757_CE[Ra1]_F(SHU)_PF1(SC_RK)_PFA2(SC_KM)_PN(KM).pdf |
| Summary: | Introduction: Nomophobia is the fear of being away from
mobile phone contact or in other words nomophobia is the
irrational fear of being without mobile phone. Nomophobia is an
emerging psychological public health problem.
Aim: To determine the prevalence of nomophobia and pattern
of mobile phone usage among medical students in Chennai.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was
done among 400 undergraduate medical students of Tagore
Medical College and Hospital, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India,
studying from 1st year to 4th year, over a period of two months
(July 2019 and August 2019). A structured questionnaire,
developed by Yildirim C and Correia AP, was used to determine
the prevalence of nomophobia among the study population.
Stratified simple random sampling technique was used, where
100 students from each study year were selected. Descriptive
statistics and chi-square test were done to compare the
severity of nomophobia with various variables.
Results: Out of 400 students, 50% (200) were males and 50%
(200) were female students. Overall, 85% (340) used mobile
internet. The top three reasons for using mobile internet were
WhatsApp (95%), YouTube (81.3%) and Instagram (74.3%).
The overall prevalence of nomophobia was 99% (396); 17.5%
(70) showed severe nomophobia, 56.3% (225) moderate
nomophobia, and 25.3% (101) had mild nomophobia. Severe
nomophobia was associated with mobile usage >5 hours in a
day (p-value=0.013).
Conclusion: Health education and health awareness
campaigns regarding nomophobia should be created among
the undergraduate medical students. |
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| ISSN: | 2249-782X 0973-709X |