Ansiedade e dependência de Smartphone em acadêmicos do curso de odontologia da Universidade Federal do Ceará

Abstract

The following observational study aims to understand the connection between anxiety and the overuse of smartphones among Odontology students from the UFC (Universidade Federal do Ceará – FFOE). The study was conducted with a sample pool of 130 graduation students over 18 years of age, from both sexes and that owned a smartphone device. The students were asked to fill out Google Form questionnaires based on both the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Smartphone Addiction Inventory (SPAI). The Google Form questionnaires were sent out via social media platforms. For the purposes of statistical analysis, a 5% level of significance was decided. In regards to demographic characteristics (such as age and course year), rate of dependency on smartphones and rate of anxiety, the study used Student’s t-test and Fisher’s exact test. Among grad students, 60% attested to suffering from some degree of anxiety, with no real differences between what course year the students were currently into. Furthermore, 77,7% of grad students reported being, on some level, addicted to using their smartphone, and 100% of students that claimed to have a more severe form of anxiety were also very dependent on using their smartphone. This demonstrates that Odontology students from the UFC are largely very dependent on the use of smartphone devices and show varying levels of anxiety, however, there is no connection between these two factors.