Nomophobia And Other Psycho-social Factors Affecting Sleep Quality Among Undergraduate Health Sciences Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background Good sleep quality is crucial for overall health and wellbeing. Poor sleep quality has been linked with various factors including nomophobia, i.e., fear of not having a mobile phone. However, limited evidence is available in Pakistani setting therefore this study aims to determine the burden of nomophobia and poor sleep quality along with association between them among Pakistani undergraduate health sciences students. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study at a private institute in Karachi, Pakistan. 551 undergraduate health sciences students were recruited via purposive sampling. The outcome variable is sleep quality status (Poor and good) and was measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index. The primary exposure variable is degree of nomophobia and was assessed by the Nomophobia Questionnaire. Other psychosocial and demographic variables were also adjusted. Crude and adjusted prevalence ratios were computed with their 95% confidence intervals using Cox proportional algorithm. Results Nearly two-thirds of study participants, (n = 385, 69.1%) were females. among which 94.4%(520) were youth aged 15–24 years. 47.2%(260) students were enrolled from medical college as compared to 52.8%(291) from nursing. The prevalence of poor sleep quality was reported to be 45%. Moderate nomophobia was most prevalent at 56.8% followed by severe nomophobia (38.5%). The prevalence of poor sleep quality among students with severe nomophobia was 1.71 times (95% CI 0.9, 2.9) as compared to those with no or mild nomophobia. Prevalence of poor sleep quality among students with moderate nomophobia was 1.4 times as compared to those with no or mild nomophobia when all other variables are held constant. Conclusion Nomophobia and poor sleep quality were alarmingly prevalent among undergraduate health sciences indicating on the importance of drafting health policies concerning adolescents and young adults, with particular emphasis on medical students. Self-awareness and help-seeking can only be ensured to students if encouraged to share their feelings with unbiased discussion on the topic and are provided with a healthy support system. The curriculum also needs to be revised to address this issue, including providing regular counselling services and no smartphone campus days to raise awareness.