Nomophobia: mobile phone dependence among students of a medical college in Central Odisha, India

ABSTRACT

Background: Nomophobia, stands for “no mobile phone phobia". The tremendous increase in mobile phone usage among youngsters has led to negative impact on their mental health status. Current study aims at finding out the prevalence of nomophobia (mild, moderate, and severe), various health related conditions and independent risk factors of severe nomophobia among medical students of a tertiary care college and Hospital of Central Odisha.Methods: A cross sectional study carried out among 450 students of a medical college of Central Odisha. Simple random sampling was done. Predesigned pretested questionnaire including Nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS and logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent risk factors of severe nomophobia.Results: Out of 450 students, 246 (54.6%) were boys and rest were girls. Nomohobia was universally present and students suffering from mild, moderate and severe form of nomophobia comprised of 33 (7.3%), 327 (72.7%) and 90 (20%) respectively. Independent risk factors of severe nomophobia were fourth year of study and above (aOR=2.69), use of costly handsets (aOR=4.56), monthly bill of more than rupees 500 for cell phone use (aOR=6.09) and anxiousness of staying updated with news all the time (aOR=4.86).Conclusions: Nomophobia is a highly prevalent condition among the medical students found across age groups, gender and socio-economic status which depends on phone usage. It is recommended that screening and proper counselling should be available in order to decrease the burden and create awareness about nomophobia among the medical students.