“Study of Nomophobia and its Impact on Quality of Life in Medical Students and Resident Doctors”.

Abstract

Background:

Nomophobia “no mobile phone” and phobia” is a pathological fear of being out of contact with a mobile phone, has no mobile networks, or has insufficient balance or battery.

Aim:

The present study aims to assess the effect of Nomophobia and its impact on Quality of Life in Medical Students and resident doctors in a tertiary care hospital.

Materials and Methods:

An online survey using Google Forms online platform was carried out to evaluate Nomophobia using Nomophobia Questionnaire and quality of life using WHOQOL-BREF scale.

Results:

The study sample comprised 252 participants with mean age of 21.31 years. 66.7% (n=168) of them were Females and 33.3% were males(n=84). Mean score of nomophobia is 74.79 and there is a Negative correlation between Nomophobia and overall Quality of Life (r=-.198, p value=.002). Among all domains of QOL, physical(r=-.291,p=.000) and environment domains(r=-.207,p=.001) are mostly affected.

Conclusion:

There is a high prevalence of Nomophobia among medical students with a significant negative impact on QOL which indicates that nomophobia is an emerging mental health problem that needs to be addressed.