Nomophobia and eHealth literacy among adolescents: A cross-sectional study

This study was conducted to determine adolescents' nomophobia behaviors, eHealth literacy levels, and their predictive factors.

A cross-sectional design was used. The population consisted of ninth, 10th, and 11th-grade adolescents (aged 14-17) in a high school in Turkiye (N = 1013). The study was completed with 719 voluntary adolescents. A questionnaire, the eHealth Literacy Scale, and the Nomophobia Questionnaire were used to collect data. Multiple linear regression was run for data analysis.

Of the adolescents, 44.9% were found to have moderate, and 14.8% had severe nomophobia behaviors. Adolescents who were girls, the ninth and 10th graders, who used smartphone two hours or more daily, social media users, who watched videos on the smartphone and surfed on the Internet had higher nomophobia behaviors. Adolescents who were boys, who searched for health information online, found health information on the Internet helpful, and found accessing health resources on the Internet important had higher eHealth literacy levels.

Adolescents should be educated about rational smartphone and Internet usage to comprehend the accuracy of health-related information.

School nurses could design activities to increase eHealth literacy to encourage adolescents. Nurses could help proactively prepare nomophobia severity map and an eHealth literacy enhancement curriculum for adolescents to form functional preventive interventions. Nurse leaders can contribute to developing policies and strategies to prevent nomophobia behaviors among adolescents.