Are Nomophobia and Alexithymia Related? The Case of Health Students

Objective: This paper aims to determine whether there is a relationship between nomophobia and alexithymia in nursing and midwiferystudents studying at the undergraduate level and the factors affecting nomophobia and alexithymia.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted with undergraduate nursing and midwifery students in a public university. No sampling wasused. The response rate was 71.42%. Data were collected by a Personal Information Form, Nomophobia Scale, and Toronto Alexithymia Scale.The data were analyzed with the SPSS-22 program. Type 1 error level was considered as p<0.05.Results: The nomophobia scores of female students, third-year students, and those who spent most of their lives in urban areas were higherand statistically significant. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 scores of nursing students (p=0.022) and students with chronic diseases (p=0.011)were higher and statistically significant. There is a very weak positive correlation between the duration of daily telephone usage and nomophobia(p<0.01). In addition, a weak level positive correlation was found between nomophobia and alexithymia scores (p<0.01).Conclusion: The participants’ nomophobia scores were at a moderate level. The mean of the scores obtained by the participants from thealexithymia scale was close to half of the mean score to be taken from the scale. No significant difference was found between many sociodemographiccharacteristics and nomophobia groupings (low, moderate, severe).