The Relationship Between Problematic Mobile Use and Sleep Quality Among Nursing Students: the Mediating Role of Perceived Stress

Introduction: excessive and problematic use of mobile phones could have several negative effects on different aspects of students’ lives. the current study aimed to explore the relationship between excessive mobile uses and sleep quality among nursing students considering the mediating role of perceived stress. methods: in this descriptive study with a correlational design, 138 nursing students (103 females, 35 males) were selected using the random sampling method. to collect the data, cell-phone over-use scale (cos), pittsburgh sleep quality index (psqi), and cohen›s perceived stress scale were used. the data were analyzed using pearson product moment correlation, independent samples t test, and hierarchical regression analysis by the spss 22 software. results: the mean scores of students’ mobile use, sleep quality, and perceived stress were 52.17 ± 14.70, 11.8 ± 2.69, and 22.60 ± 6.45, respectively. there was no statistically significant difference in the aforementioned variables among male and female nursing students. the results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that mobile use in the first model could predict students’ sleep quality (β = 0.38). by entering the perceived stress to the equation, β of mobile use decreased, which showed the incomplete mediating role of perceived stress. conclusions: problematic mobile use has not only direct adverse health consequences but also indirect negative effects on students’ sleep quality through perceived stress. the findings yield significant insights for parents, education practitioners, health specialists, and policy makers in making interventions regarding the excessive, and problematic mobile use among nursing students.