背景:智能手机已成为几乎每个人生活中不可或缺的一部分。印度现在已经成为全球领先和第二大智能手机市场。人们注意到,智能手机使用的目的在过去几年中发生了异常变化,尤其是在学生中,专业人士,和普通人。智能手机现在已经成为必不可少的,需要时间,医学生也不例外。智能手机可以使“聪明的学生更聪明”!现在有10,275个独特的应用程序标记在“医疗”和“医疗保健和健身”类别下。常用的医疗应用是MedCalc,药物输注,抽认卡,百科全书,默克手册,Medscape,PubMed,Epocrates,MedlinePlus,实验室测试应用,医学词典,Eponyms等。尽管智能手机的优势和需求,它们已被证明是对人类健康潜在危害的来源,不仅是身体上的,也是精神上的,社会,和情感幸福。有一致的证据表明合并症(如肥胖,心脏病,颈部和背部疼痛,等。)在过度使用智能手机和其他精神疾病之间,比如抑郁症,焦虑,强迫症(强迫症),注意缺陷多动障碍(ADHD)类似于网络成瘾。这种成瘾与睡眠质量较差和感知压力较高的显着关联一直令人担忧。因此,进一步调查探讨智能手机成瘾与心理健康之间的关系,进行了这项研究。
方法:我们的研究由VMGMC博士进行,Solapur,从2022年6月到8月,在获得道德委员会的批准后,批准号172/22。该研究的自愿参与总数为600人(从第一年到最后一年),并因此采取了方便的样本量。
结果:我们发现,在所有参与者中,42%的参与者每天的平均屏幕时间为4-6小时。一小部分参与者(4%)在屏幕前花费不到两个小时。令人震惊的是,65%的参与者的平均屏幕时间超过4小时,这使得他们面临延长屏幕时间对健康的负面影响。大约12%的人有轻微压力的症状,轻度焦虑为10.3%,轻度抑郁症为15.6%。10.6%有中度紧张的症状,23.3%为中度焦虑,16%为中度抑郁症。一小部分本科生,也就是说,5%,16%,和11.6%,有严重和极其严重的压力症状,焦虑,和抑郁症,分别。
结论:研究参与者没有感受到很大的压力,焦虑,或抑郁症状,当智能手机被明智地使用,主要用于非社会目的(如学习,听音乐,或观看视频)。这项调查使我们得出结论,智能手机对心理健康有一些积极影响。然而,那些在智能手机上花费过多时间进行社交联系的人,平均屏幕时间为5小时,表现出轻度至中度悲伤的迹象,中度焦虑,和紧张,表明社交媒体对医学本科生的心理健康有负面影响。因此,应该努力告知医学生使用智能手机是如何伤害他们的心理健康。
BACKGROUND: Smartphones have become an indispensable part of almost everyone\'s life. India has now become the leading and second-largest Smartphone market in the world. It has been noted that the purpose of Smartphone usage has exceptionally changed over the past few years, especially among students, professionals, and the common man. Smartphones have now become essential and the need of the hour, and medical students are no exception. Smartphones can make \"smart students smarter\"! There are now 10,275 unique applications labeled under the \"Medical\" and \"Healthcare and Fitness\" categories. The common medical applications used are MedCalc, Drug Infusion, Flashcards, Encyclopedia, Merck Manual, Medscape, PubMed, Epocrates, MedlinePlus, Lab test applications, Medical Dictionary, Eponyms etc. Despite the advantages and needs of smartphones, they have proven to be a source of potential hazard to human health, not only physical but also mental, social, and emotional well-being. There is consistent evidence for co-morbidity (such as obesity, heart diseases, neck and back pain, etc.) between excessive smartphone use and other psychiatric disorders, such as depression, anxiety, obsessive and compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) similar to internet addiction. The significant association of this addiction with poorer sleep quality and higher perceived stress has been a cause for concern. Hence, further investigation to explore the association between smartphone addiction and mental health, this study was undertaken.
METHODS: Our study was undertaken in Dr VMGMC, Solapur, from June to August 2022, after obtaining approval from the ethical committee, approval number 172/22. Total voluntary participation for the study was 600 (from first to final year), and accordingly convenient sample size was taken.
RESULTS: We found that out of the total participants, 42% of the participants had an average screen time of 4-6 h daily. A very small percentage of participants (4%) spent less than two hours in front of a screen. Alarmingly, 65% of the participants had an average screen time of more than 4 hours, which puts them at risk for the negative health impacts of prolonged screen time. Around 12% of them had symptoms of mild stress, 10.3% for mild anxiety, and 15.6% for mild depression. 10.6% had symptoms of moderate stress, 23.3% for moderate anxiety, and 16% for moderate depression. A small proportion of undergraduates, that is, 5%, 16%, and 11.6%, had symptoms of severe and extremely severe stress, anxiety, and depression, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: The study participants did not feel a lot of stress, anxiety, or depression symptoms when smartphones were used judiciously and mostly for non-social purposes (such as studying, listening to music, or watching videos). This investigation led us to the conclusion that there are some positive effects of smartphones on mental health. However, those who spent an excessive amount of time on their smartphones for social contact, with an average screen time of 5 h, showed signs of mild to moderate sadness, moderate anxiety, and tension, demonstrating that social media had a negative impact on the mental health of medical undergraduates. Therefore, efforts should be made to inform medical students about how using a smartphone is harming their mental health.