Fear of lacking access to mobile devices ("nomophobia"): A preliminary study of prevalence, predictors, and relationship to perceived stress in nursing students.

BACKGROUND

Nomophobia, the fear of losing smartphone access, appears to be increasing among nursing students globally. Early findings suggest that it leads to stress and anxiety and impacts student learning and academic performance.

PURPOSE: To assess nomophobia and perceived stress levels and the predictive factors in nursing students.

METHODS

Cross-sectional surveys of 1030 nursing students at a university in Türkiye. The data were collected via paper questionnaires that included validated Turkish versions of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and the Perceived Stress Scale for Nursing Students.

DISCUSSION: Among the 808 students who responded, 48% had moderate and 24.5% had severe nomophobia. Sex, income, academic success, daily smartphone use duration, social media use, listening to music, and perceived stress were significant predictors of nomophobia. Year within the nursing program, income, watching videos, surfing the internet, and nomophobia were significant predictors of perceived stress.

CONCLUSION

Understanding nomophobia and its relationship to perceived stress is potentially critical to a healthy nurse workforce.