Anxiety, Depression, Body Mass Index, Physical Activity in Nomophobic Italian Nurses: A Chronic Latent Inflammation?

AIM: To investigate which risk factors are strictly connected to nomophobia in Italian nurses, according to socio-demographic characteristics, Body Mass Index scores, physical activity habits, anxiety, and depression. METHODS: An "ad hoc" online questionnaire has been created and then administered to Italian nurses. Data include sex, age, years of work experience, shift work per day, nursing educational level, Body Mass Index, physical activity, anxiety, depression, and nomophobia conditions. Univariate logistic regression has been performed to explore what potential factors may contribute to the nomophobia condition. RESULTS: A total of 430 nurses agree to participate. No respondents record severe nomophobia levels, as 308 (71.6%) register mild and 58 (13.5%) register moderate levels and 64 (14.9%) report no abnormal condition. Females seem to be more exposed than males to nomophobia (p < 0.001); nurses aged from 31 to 40 years and also with less than 10 years of work experience are more affected comparnig to the other sub groups (p < 0.001). Nurses who practice low physical activity report significant high levels in nomophobia (p < 0.001) and nurses reporting high anxiety levels also suffer from nomophobia (p < 0.001). The trend is inverse by considering depression condition since most of the nurses suffering from mild or moderate nomophobia levels report the absence of depression condition (p < 0.001). No statistical differences have been reported between nomophobia levels and shift work (p = 0.269), nursing educational level (p = 0.242), and BMI levels (p = 0.183). Anxiety and physical activity report strong relationships with nomophobia condition (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Nomophobia may affect all individuals, especially young individuals. Although further studies on nurses will be implemented, including the workplace and training environments of nurses by allowing a clearer picture of the levels of "nomophobia" in general, as nomophobic behavior may have negative repercussions both in social and professional spheres.

Eating disorders and related stigma: analysis among a population of Italian nursing students.

According to the World Health Organization, eating disorders are a constantly growing public health problem in industrialized countries with an important stigmatizing impact. The study investigates stigmatizing beliefs and attitudes towards Anorexia nervosa (AN) and Bulimia nervosa (BN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: From October 2018 to November 2019, an online survey was conducted for students of the Degree Courses in Nursing of 2 Italian university centres, using the Italian version of the SAB-BN-ITA, adapted for AN. RESULTS: The sample consists of 517 nursing students, aged between 20 and 23. Male subjects presented higher scores, relative to stigma, both for BN (F =17.5, p <0.001) and for AN (F = 1 9.64, p <0.001). For the sample the main trigger factor of BN is the influence of the media (56.67), the lack of social support (53.19) and parental care (51.84). The association between the stigmatizing views was explored through Spearman's correlation and a linear regression model between the two overall scores (coeff. 0.73; p <0.001: r-squared 0.52). The 'self-regulation' is the stigmatizing opinions for AN (Coeff. 0.0768; p <0.001; r-squared 0.039) and BN (Coeff 0.0684; p <0.001; r-squared 0.030), and the 'social support' is stigmatizing opinions for AN (coeff. -0.0713; p = 0.004; r-squared 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that the male gender has a higher level of stigma than the female one. Moreover, a large number of students consider media influence to be the main causative factor in the onset of ADs, in addition to the lack of social support.