Smartphone Addiction in Substance Use Patients: Who Is Most Vulnerable?
E. M. Bahri, J. Nasri, S. Hleli, M. Bennsir, W. AbdelghaffarIntroduction
Smartphone addiction is an emerging behavioral disorder. Its comorbidity with Substance Use Disorders is poorly understood, potentially creating a complex clinical profile.
Objectives
This study aims to describe the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of substance use disorder patients with co-occurring smartphone addiction to identify who is most vulnerable.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted on 60 patients diagnosed with substance use disorder recruited from the Hope Department for Addiction Care at the Jbel Ouest Health Center. Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire and the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) in Arabic. Based on established thresholds (≥31 for males, ≥33 for females), patients were categorized into two groups: with smartphone addcition (SAS-SV+) and without smartphone addicition (SAS-SV-). Data from clinical records were also collected. Data was collected and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics software, version 27.
Results
Results for the SAS-SV+ Group (n=23): Patients with smartphone addiction had a mean age of 30.0 years (SD=9.0, range: 19-52) and were exclusively male (n=23, 100%). The majority were single (n=15, 65.2%) with a secondary education level (n=17, 73.9%). The most common employment status was day labourer (n=9, 39.1%). A significant minority had a personal psychiatric diagnosis (n=6, 26.1%), with depression being the most reported (n=4, 17.4%). Notably, this group showed high rates of substance use, with cannabis (n=13, 56.5%) and cocaine/crack (n=10, 43.5%) being the most prevalent. Furthermore, a family history of addiction was reported by 39.1% (n=9) of this group.
Conclusions
A significant proportion of substance use disorder patients present with comorbid smartphone addiction, characterized by a distinct sociodemographic and clinical profile. Recognizing this profile is crucial for clinicians to screen for digital addiction and develop integrated treatment strategies that address both chemical and behavioral dependencies.
Disclosure of Interest
None Declared