Prevalence of Nomophobia and Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Program on Prevention and Management of Nomophobia among Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Background: Mobile phone makes life convenient and comfortable, at the same time the pose a threatin terms of psychological dependence. Nomo- phobia is a catchy contraction for “no mobile phone” andmobile phone addiction. Nomo- phobia refers to discomfort, anxiety, nervousness or anguish caused bybeing out of contact with a mobile phone. The feeling of panic and desperation is observed in peoplewho lost their phones. The problem is prevalent among young mobile users, as they use mobile phone forvarious purposes. Studies have found that the students with stronger addiction to mobile phones have higherpossibility of decreased learning and concentration problems. Objectives: 1. To determine the prevalenceof Nomo- phobic undergraduate students. 2. To assess the level of knowledge of undergraduate studentsregarding prevention and management of Nomo- phobia. 3. To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teachingprogramme on the level of knowledge among undergraduate students regarding prevention and managementof Nomo- phobia. 4. To find association between the level of knowledge of undergraduate students and theselected demographic variables. 5. To find the association between the prevalence of nomophobia amongundergraduate students and the selected demographic variables. Methods and Materials: An experimentalresearch approach with quasi-experimental design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted on200 undergraduate students studying and residing in a selected university campus in Kanpur. The prevalenceof nomophobia was determined by using NMP-Q scale developed by Yildrin and Correia, while knowledgelevel was assessed by using structured knowledge questionnaire regarding prevention and management ofnomophobia. Result: The study reveals that 57% undergraduate students had moderate nomophobia, while21.5% had mild and 21.5% had severe nomophobia. The knowledge levels of the undergraduate studentsranged between poor to moderate. 85% of the undergraduate in both the groups had poor knowledge and15% had moderate knowledge regarding prevention and management of nomophobia. The planned teachingprogram was effective in increasing knowledge of undergraduate students. Conclusion: Nomophobiais prevalent in undergraduate students. Planned teaching program is effective strategy in increasing theknowledge levels of undergraduate students.