Investigating the Smartphone Addiction among Undergraduate Nursing Students

School of Nursing in Karachi, Pakistan. A convenience sampling technique was used to collect data and a Smartphone Addiction Scale short version (SAS-SV) questionnaire was utilized to collect data related to smartphone usage patterns and addiction levels among nursing students. Results: The study �ndings revealed that 68 nursing students (69.39%) were addicted to smartphones. Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-independent test were applied by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25.0 for data analysis. Conclusions: The present study revealed that smartphone addiction was found higher among nursing students.

irrepressible desire for an object even if there is a destructive effect on an individual's health and social life [4].Smartphone addiction is a common concern worldwide with a high occurrence not only in uences developing countries but also the underdeveloped nations [5].The frequency and duration of time spent on social media sites and messaging applications have been increasing and it has been reported that those people who use a smartphone for more than 20 hours a week have a serious dependency on smartphones [6].According to 2019 statistics, the incidence of smartphone addiction are more than 5 million globally [7].A study conducted among medical University students in Saudi Arabia reported strongly negative consequences on the physical and mental health of students due to excessive use of A smartphone is a single device with multiple features to make human life easier.Nowadays, the trend to use a smartphone has become popular all over the world it has changed human life drastically in the last few years [1].Smartphones aren't just about fun and staying connected; they're like a personal toolkit packed with endless possibilities.From browsing the internet to nding our way with GPS, capturing memories with the camera, and using countless handy apps, they've become indispensable companions in our everyday adventures.Moreover, smartphones provide wireless access to work, emails, and social activities [2].However, excessive use of smartphones is considered a technology addiction and it has raised concerns about its effects on students' health and academic per formance [3].Addiction is an

I N T R O D U C T I O N
In today' s digital era, smartphones have become an essential part of our society.However, excessive use of smartphones can have a wide range of consequences and it affects students' physical and mental health.Nursing students should know the appropriate use of smartphones to prevent health complications.Objective: To investigate the prevalence of smartphone addiction among nursing students.Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was utilized in a total of 98 nursing students of Saifee Burhani School of Nursing in Karachi, Pakistan.A convenience sampling technique was used to collect data and a Smartphone Addiction Scale short version (SAS-SV) questionnaire was utilized to collect data related to smartphone usage patterns and addiction levels among nursing students.Results: The study ndings revealed that 68 nursing students (69.39%) were addicted to smartphones.Descriptive statistics, ANOVA, and t-independent test were applied by Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 25.0 for data analysis.Conclusions: The present study revealed that smartphone addiction was found higher among nursing students.
smartphones [8].Moreover, investigating an addiction to smartphones, a study conducted in Rawalpindi-Islamabad reported 57.3% of males whereas 42.6% of females were involved in excessive use of smartphones [9].Healthcare students are exposed to high levels of stress right from the beginning of the course; as they face unique challenges due to rigorous academic demands and strict clinical training.Smartphone addiction might aggravate this problem as well as reduce the quality of sleep and cause neck discomfort [10].
There is limited research available related to smartphone addiction, that speci cally targets nursing students in Pakistan.Therefore, understanding the extent of Smartphone addiction among nursing students and its implications is crucial for promoting their well-being and ensuring their academic success.Consequently, this study aimed to investigate smartphone addiction among nursing students and gain insight into these problems in the Pakistani context.

M E T H O D S
This study investigated the prevalence of smartphone addiction in Bachelor of Science in nursing students at Saifee Burhani School of Nursing in Karachi, Pakistan.Data were collected from an organized method after getting approval for data collection from the study setting and the Ethical Review Committee of Ziauddin University (7440723SANUR; September 05, 2023).It was a Descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in one month October 2023 using convenience sampling technique by using the Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) questionnaire [11].The questionnaire contains 10 items related to the use of smartphones with a Likert scale score of 1 to 6 indicated (1 = strongly disagree to 6 = strongly agree).The overall score of SAS-SV ranges from 10 to 60 and the cut-off point for addiction in males is 31 and 33 for females.The tool's reliability is 0.94 and the validity is 0.71-0.78.This study used a convenience sampling method, The sample size was calculated by online software "OpenEpi" version 3 with a 95% con dence interval by taking a previous study done in 2022 as reference "Addicted to smartphones: Exploring the prevalence of smartphone usage patterns and addiction among undergraduates in South Punjab" mean and the standard deviation is taken from the article [12].The inclusive criteria were nursing students who were enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program and using smartphones for more than 1 year for at least 2 hours per day and the exclusive criteria were the students who did not meet the inclusion criteria and were unwilling to participate.Informed consent was taken by a primary researcher from the study participants before including them in the study for voluntar y participation without coercion.Finally, the data were analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS Version 25.0).Descriptive statistics for frequency tables, mean and standard deviation, and statistical test ANOVA and independent t-test were utilized to nd out the relationship among different variables with smartphone addiction.

R E S U L T S
(SD = 9.96), and the 8th semester score was 41.00 (SD = 8.80).Respectively to the assignment purpose, scores were obtained 41.91 (SD = 7.62), for entertainment 38.27 (SD = 8.41), for social media 38.78 (SD = 8.98), and for calls 38.18 (SD = 9.11).In respective to the duration of smartphone use, the results obtained were 38.06 (SD = 9.08).In the current study, most of the participants were 51 (52%) females as compared to males were 47 (48%).These ndings were parallel to the study in which 63.9% were female and 36.1% were male [13].In contrast, the literature endorses that a large proportion of males was 53.4% as compared to females 35.9% [14].The possible reasons for this contrast in the Pakistani context were perhaps the male-dominant society, cultural norms, and restrictions on women's mobility in certain areas may have led them to rely more on smartphones for social interaction to stay connected with friends and family which could contribute higher smartphone addiction among females.The majority of participants (90.8%) were single in the current study.These ndings were similar to a study in which most participants 97.65% were single [15].A large proportion (94.9%) of the study participants' age group was 18-23 years.The ndings were parallel to the results of the study in which the majority of the participants (69.2%) belonged to the 18-25 years age group.According to the educational status of the participants (16.3%) were in 1st year semester

D I S C U S S I O N
has been applied b Independent T-test has been applied

Table 1 :
Frequency of Socio-Demographics Factors

Table 2 :
Distribution of Smart Phone Addiction Scores with Socio-Demographics

Table 5 :
Comparison of Smartphone Addiction Scores with Different Variables

Table 3 :
Prevalence of Smartphone Addiction

Table 4 :
Prevalence of Smartphone Addiction in Males and Females