Smartphone addiction and perceived pain among nursing students: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study investigates smartphone addiction among nursing students, the levels of perceived pain in the upper extremity, and the relationship between them. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 259 nursing students in a Turkish state university, who agreed to participate in the research. Study data were collected online using the introductory questionnaire, smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV), and numeric rating scale (NRS). The data were evaluated by descriptive statistics and simple linear regression analysis. The SAS-SV score of students included in the study was 25.71 ± 7.49. It was determined that all of the students experienced burning in the ears, pinkie, elbow, shoulder, wrist, eye, hand and neck pain due to telephone use. In the study, it was determined that the SAS-SV scores of the students were found to be higher 7.4 times in those with the highest level of headache; 6.8 times in those with the highest level of ear pain; 8.4 times in those with the highest level of shoulder pain; 8.2 times in those with the highest level of low back pain. The study established that students were experiencing a low level of smartphone addiction; however, various health and social problems associated with phone use and smartphone addiction caused pain in certain extremities.