The association between sociodemographic determinants and nomophobia among physiotherapists in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: a cross-sectional study
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Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Nomophobia is a psychological condition characterized by fear or anxiety resulting from being without access to a mobile phone. It is increasingly prevalent among healthcare professionals due to their high reliance on mobile technology. However, limited data exist regarding the prevalence and severity of nomophobia, specifically among physiotherapists in Saudi Arabia. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was administered via SurveyMonkey, targeting a convenience sample of physiotherapists between April 30 and June 27, 2023. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics, Version 28.0. Categorical variables were summarized using frequencies and percentages. The Kruskal–Wallis H and Mann–Whitney U tests were employed to compare median NMP-Q scores across participant subgroups. A total of 1003 physiotherapists participated, with 579 (57.7%) females. The prevalence of nomophobia was 99.6%. The Kruskal–Wallis Test showed that the age group 51–60 years had the highest NMP-Q scores (Md = 99, x2 (4, N = 1003) = 57.31, p < .001) in comparison to other age groups. The female group was higher in total scores on the NMP-Q questionnaire (Md = 94, x2 (1, N = 1003) = 25.41, p < .001) compared to the male group (Md = 87, x2 (1, N = 1003) = 25.41, p < .001). Physiotherapists with clinical experience between 16 and 20 years and night shift workers were the highest in total scores on the NMP-Q questionnaire (Md = 96, x2 = 62.87; Md = 94, x2 = 36.79, p < .001, respectively) compared to other groups with different levels of clinical experience and shift patterns. Being divorced, a current smoker, and living with roommates were highly scored levels of nomophobia compared with categorized sub-groups. Nomophobia is highly prevalent among physiotherapists, with most reporting moderate levels. Interventions to promote balanced mobile phone use and digital well-being are recommended to improve mental health, job satisfaction, and productivity, fostering a healthier work environment.
Date Issued
2025-07-14
Date Acceptance
2025-06-25
Citation
Scientific Reports, 2025, 15
ISSN
2045-2322
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Scientific Reports
Volume
15
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
25406
Date Publish Online
2025-07-14