Factor structure, reliability and validity of an Indian Scale for Assessment of Nomophobia (ISAN) among college students: A multicentre Indian study

Background: The current severity assessment measures for nomophobia have issues related to clinical applicability, which makes them difficult to be consistently applied in the Indian context. We aimed to develop a valid and reliable instrument for the assessment of severity of Nomophobia.

Methods: This study was a two-phase, exploratory sequential mixed method design conducted across three centres in India. The development of the questionnaire included identification of the domains and items, inputs from experts and refining the questionnaire. EFA was carried out to check the internal consistency among items. CFA was carried out to test the factor structure of ISAN. Concurrent validity with NMP-Q was ascertained. Convergent and discriminant validity were tested using bivariate correlation analysis.

Results: The qualitative findings from the initial exploration were developed into 27-item ISAN reviewed by experts for content validity. EFA showed that the questionnaire has good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient = 0.934) with a five-factor pattern matrix. CFA explained five-factor structure (Digital compulsion, Digital Intensement, Digital Obsession, Digital Detachment Distress and Digital Engagement) was deemed to be the most tenable comprising of 21 items. ISAN fits good on all indices (CMIN/df = 2.44, CFI = 0.93, RMSEA = 0.05, TLI = 0.92, IFI = 0.93) for the five-factor structure. Concurrent validity with NMP-Q was good (r = 0.695). Good to moderate associations were noted for the convergent (r = 0.985) and discriminant validity (r = -0.560) respectively.

Conclusion: ISAN (Indian Scale for Assessment of Nomophobia) is an accurate and reliable instrument that can measure nomophobia in the Indian youth population.