Mobile Phone Dependence among Undergraduate Students of a Medical College of Eastern Nepal: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Study

INTRODUCTION: Mobile phones are becoming increasingly indispensable in daily life of the students which has resulted in mobile phone dependence. The objective of the study was to find the prevalence of mobile phone dependence among undergraduate students of a medical college of Eastern Nepal. METHODS: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2016 to March 2017 on a total of 390 undergraduate students aged between 17 and 25 years using stratified sampling technique. Students using mobile phones for more than one year was included in the study. Students were requested to complete a pretested self-administered questionnaire which comprised their socio-demographic characteristics, pattern of mobile phone usage and mobile phone addiction index developed by Leung. RESULTS: The prevalence of mobile phone dependence among the undergraduate students was found to be 85 (21.8%). Mobile phone dependence was found to be related with time spend on mobile; calls per day, money spend on recharge per month and years of ownership of mobile phone. There was no difference between males and females with regard to mobile phone dependence. CONCLUSIONS: The present study found that mobile phone dependence was common among the undergraduate medical students. These results suggest the need to develop educational programme to educate the students to use mobile phone meaningfully.