THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SMARTPHONE ADDICTION, PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND ANXIETY IN MIDWIFERY STUDENTS RECEIVING DISTANCE EDUCATION

Abstract

It is obvious that during the COVID-19 pandemic period, the use of smartphones has increased due to the continuing distance education in our country. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the relationship between smartphone addiction, psychological well-being, and anxiety in midwifery students receiving distance education. Information of 759 midwifery students studying in midwifery undergraduate programs and receiving distance education was collected and analyzed with web-based query forms. For the collection of the data of the research, the Personal Information Form (PIF), which included 14 questions, including socio-demographic characteristics, and was created with online form tools and prepared by the researchers by scanning the literature, was used along with Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), Psychological Well-being Scale (PWBS) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). While the mean score of the smartphone addiction scale of the students was calculated as 30.29 ± 12.42, their high addiction level (> 33 points) was found to be 36.4% (n = 276). It was determined that smartphone addiction was the most important independent factor (β= 0.32, t = 10.01, p = <0.001) affecting students' beck anxiety level. Smartphone addiction increased students' anxiety and decreased their psychological well-being.

Keywords

• smartphone addiction
• anxiety
• psychological well-being
• midwifery students
• distance education