Experience of Nursing Students Trying to Limit Smartphone Use Based on the I-PACE Model

Objectives This study is a qualitative descriptive study that attempted to deeply explore nursing students’ experiences of trying to control their smartphone usage time based on the I-PACE model from the perspectives of personal characteristics and the interaction between emotions and behaviors. Based on the integrated aspects of the I-PACE addiction model, this study attempted to identify vulnerable factors contributing to smartphone addiction in nursing students in order to control long-term smartphone usage time and to contribute to the utilization of evidence for intervention methods for comprehensive intervention strategies to control smartphone usage time. Methods According to the research purpose, 15 nursing students who have used smartphones for more than 5 years and have tried to control their smartphone usage time were selected through purposive sampling from October to December 2023. Data were collected through focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews, and this is a qualitative descriptive study using content analysis. Results The results of the nursing students’ experience of trying to control their smartphone usage time were derived into three themes and seven subthemes. First, the category of ‘beginning of new awareness of smartphone moderation’ was diagrammed as ‘feelings before and after smartphone use’ and ‘use as a tool of escape’. Second, the category of ‘promoting smartphone moderation behavior in various dimensions’ was diagrammed as ‘environmental settings’ and ‘critical evaluation and judgment of smartphone use’. Third, the category of ‘continuous mediation of self-control and responsibility’ was diagrammed as ‘forming stable lifestyle habits’, ‘improving psychological resilience and adaptability’, and ‘freedom found through delayed gratification’. During the process of trying to control their smartphone usage time, the research participants acknowledged their smartphone dependency and formed critical thinking through repeated failures in moderation. After acknowledging that they could not control their smartphone usage with willpower alone, they prioritized correcting their lifestyle habits and learning constructive stress methods beyond simply trying to control their smartphone usage. This became the beginning of postponing immediate rewards and consciously controlling their impulses. Conclusions Based on the individual emotional aspect of the I-PACE model, as an intervention method to resolve smartphone addiction, the emotions of nursing students are carefully assessed, including states such as stress, loneliness, and depression according to the individual characteristics of nursing students. Based on the cognitive and practical aspects of the I-PACE model, cognitive factors such as expectations and beliefs of nursing students are closely examined to identify cognitive factors that may affect smartphone dependence. Cognitive behavioral intervention is provided to correct irrational beliefs and cognitive biases related to smartphones, strategies are provided to consciously control internal impulses, and the ability to monitor one's own smartphone usage patterns is expanded. In the interactive and integrated aspect of the I-PACE model, in order to control long-term smartphone usage time rather than short-term environmental settings, it is necessary to identify individual vulnerabilities that contribute to smartphone addiction in nursing students and to establish a constructive stress coping method that enhances psychological resilience in daily life.