Impact of Continuing Medical Education (CME)-Based Sensitization on Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) Among Medical Students: A Longitudinal Study

The mean age of students was 18.9(0.6) years. A paired t-test was used to compare the mean SAS-SV score and screen time before and after CME. There was a significant reduction in the screen time t (78) = 9.686, p<0.001, after CME. However, the SAS-SV score was not significantly reduced. A Cronbach's alpha correction coefficient of 0.872 for SAS-SV suggests good internal consistency. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.815 (95% CI, 0.750-0.880) with a cut-off SAS-SV score of 29.50 (sensitivity: 0.902; specificity: 0.620). Conclusion: The results of the present study suggest that CME on de-addiction served as an effective intervention for sensitization of students, as evident from the reduced screen time. Further, SAS-SV could serve as a valid and reliable tool to assess PSU. Therefore, the need of the hour is to create awareness about PSU among the youth and make them aware of self-assessment tools such as phone apps to track screen time.