A Study of Prevalence and Determinants of Nomophobia (No Mobile Phobia) among Medical Students of Ballari: A Southern District of India

Abstract

Background: Smart phones today have become an extension of ear and an essential part of life, to such an extent that discomfort, nervousness or anxiety caused by being out of contact with a mobile phone is termed as “Nomophobia”. Objectives: To study patterns, prevalence and determinants of nomophobia. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was done among the medical students of Vijayanagar Institute of Medical Sciences, Ballari, Karnataka where a total of 419 medical students across all phases of MBBS course were enrolled for the study. A predesigned, validated questionnaire with three sections including a NMP-Q scale with 20 questions with 7 levels of agreement for each was used. Levels of nomophobia was calculated by summing up the responses to each item and then categorising them to grade the level of Nomophobia. The outcome variable was compared with respect to socio-demographic variables, years of smart phone usage, number of apps, internet access, daily time spent on smart phone. Results: Prevalence of nomophobia was 62.8% (95%CI: 58.1% - 67.4%). Access to internet [OR: 2.07; 95%CI: 1.2-3.6], more than 3 hours of time spent on smart phone daily [OR: 1.49; 95%CI: 1.0-2.2], more than 30 apps used in smart phone [OR: 1.58; 95%CI: 1.03-2.4] were the important determinants of nomophobia. Conclusions: The prevalence of Nomophobia among the medical students was high when compared to other studies. Availability of internet access, time spent on Smart Phone usage, number of apps used were the important determinants of Nomophobia.