Prevalence of Smartphone Addiction and its Relation with the Mental Wellbeing of Nursing Students of a Selected Nursing Institution in Kolkata, West Bengal

Abstract

A smartphone is helpful for the students but excessive use of smartphone is a sign of addiction to smartphone. Long-term use of smartphone can cause physical, mental and behavioural problems such as eye problems, unhealthy eating habits, decrease in academic performance, decrease in attention and concentration, communication and adaptation problems, development of addictive behaviour, low self-esteem and suicidal tendencies (Nayak JK, 2018).¹To create awareness about smart phone addiction among nursing students the researcher conducted the study “Prevalence of smartphone addiction and its relation with the mental well-being of nursing students of a selected nursing institution in Kolkata, West Bengal.” The objectives were to identify the prevalence rate of smart phone addiction, to assess the mental wellbeing and to find out the relationship between smart phone addiction and mental wellbeing among nursing students.

Methodology: The research approach adopted was a non-experimental descriptive survey design. The study was conducted in a selected nursing Institution of Kolkata with sample size 119. Non probability consecutive sampling technique was used. The tools used were personal information, Smart phone addiction scale- SV, questionnaire on mental well-being including Bergen insomnia scale (BIS) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ 9) for data collection. The techniques used for data collection were questionnaire through online.

Result: The findings showed 31.93% participants addicted to smartphone, 89.9% participants were found to spend 0–5 hours daily on screens.55.46% students admitted to using their smartphone for at least 30 minutes after the lights were turned off, and 54.62% kept their smartphone near their pillow while sleeping.The insomnia among nursing students revealed 60.50% and depression among the nursing students showed29.41% mild depression, and 5.04% students experienced severe depression while 31.09% had no depression.Smartphone addiction had significant positive correlation with insomnia (r= 0.33) and depression (r= 0.37).

Conclusion:Future research can be built upon these findings and further investigation and intervention can be done. Addressing the problems proactively and awareness and precaution can enhance academic outcomes, clinical safety, and student’s mental well-being.