Mobile phone dependence among undergraduate medical students in Nanded city

Vijay K Domple, Satish K Wadde, PL Gattani

Annals of Tropical Medicine and Public Health 2017 10(1):27-30

Introduction: In recent years, there has been increasing concern regarding problematic use of mobile phones, and accordingly, it has been publicized extensively as an emerging social problem. Objective: The aim of the study was to assess mobile phone dependence among undergraduate medical students of the Nanded city. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among undergraduate medical students of a Government Medical college, Nanded, Maharashtra, during November to December 2016. All the 348 students in the college were enrolled in the study. A predesigned Test of Mobile Phone Dependence (TMD Brief) developed by Chóliz et al was used for collection of information. The participants scoring ≥ 50%, that is, a score of ≥ 30 were considered as mobile dependent. Data analysis was performed using SPSS Version 20 and Graph Pad Prism. Results: Out of 348 participants, data were collected from 251 students, and 206 (82.1%) students were found to be dependent on the mobile phone. In total, 137 (85.1%) students in the age group of 17–20 years were mobile phone dependent. Most of the mobile phone dependents were females 99 (83.9%) than males, that is, 107 (80.5%). Out of 206 mobile-phone-dependent students, majority 77 (90.6%) were from the first year. The chi square test showed that the mobile phone dependence was significantly dependent on the academic year (X2=6.82, P=0.033). The binary logistic regression also proved first year as an independent risk factor for mobile dependence compared to second and third years. Conclusions: A total of 82.1% undergraduate medical students were mobile phone dependent. Health education about the use of mobile phone is necessary in the first year.

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