Nomophobia and its Correlation with Communication Skills in MedicalSciences Students (Birjand, Iran, 2023) abstract
Background: In the 21st century, the use of communication technologies, especially mobile phones, is recognized as an integral part of human life, and accordingly, this issue has had a significant impact on human behavior. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between nomophobia with communication skills in college students.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 550 students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences in 2023. The sampling method was stratified random sampling. Eligible people were included and the demographic information form, nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q), communication skills questionnaire (CSTR)were completed. Finally, all the collected information were recorded in Excel, and were analyzed using SPSS v. 26 at the significance level of P <0.05.Results: In this study, 550 students with a mean age of 22.4 ± 2.8 years were included; 333 individuals (60.5%) were women and 487 individuals (88.5%) were single. Most of the students had moderate severity of nomophobia (315 people, 57.3%). Also, most of the students were at a high level in terms of communication skills (345 people, 62.7%). Based on the results, age showed an inverse correlation with nomophobia and a positive correlation with communication skills (P <0.001, and P=0.001, respectively).Conclusions: In conclusion, nomophobia is related to impaired communication skills. The aggravation of nomophobia in students has led to disruption in interpersonal communication and academic performance, which endangers their academic and work future. The results of this study indicate the need to pay special attention to the nomophobia and predict effective ways to deal with it, especially in the young community.