Analysis of Occupational Balance and Its Relation to Problematic Internet Use in University Occupational Therapy Students

Abstract

(1) Objective: to explore and describe the relationship between the occupational balance of university students taking a Degree in Occupational Therapy and the problematic use of the Internet and how these, in turn, favour or not the appearance of phubbing behaviour which involves “a behaviour that happens when an individual looks at his mobile phone during a conversation with other individuals, escaping from interpersonal communication”. (2) Methods: this is a quantitative descriptive study of an observational and cross-sectional nature, not experimental. The Spanish version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire (OBQ-E), the Internet Addiction Test and the Phubbing Scale were used for data collection. 192 university students taking the Degree in Occupational Therapy of the University of Castilla–La Mancha participated (168 women and 24 men). (3) Results: the average score obtained in the OBQ-E was 38.7, indicating a moderate occupational balance; and (4) Conclusions: occupational therapy students from the Faculty of Health Sciences of the University of Castilla–La Mancha have a moderate occupational balance. Furthermore, this is negatively related to both problematic Internet use and phubbing, so a higher occupational balance indicates less Internet addiction and less phubbing.

Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Occupational Balance Questionnaire: An Instrument for Occupation-Based Research

“…Moreover, these data will be used to replicate the psychometric evaluation of the OBQ-E by conducting a more extensive analysis, thereby ensuring the generalization of the findings and enhancing the accuracy and capacity of this scale as a screening instrument of OB for the general population. In the meantime, we believe that the estimates of the present study provide convincing evidence to support the accuracy of OBQ-E as a suitable instrument for research, as well as serve as a methodological basis for the incipient epidemiological research focused on OB [ 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

“…The development of the Spanish version of the OBQ constituted a central part of the doctoral thesis done by P.P.-G. To our knowledge, this version has been used in several previous studies aimed at examining OB in Spanish adults [19][20][21]; therefore, publishing the results of the adaptation and validation of the instrument is crucial to enhancing the accuracy of the research focused on OB in the Spanish population. The present study had a double aim: (1) to translate and cross-culturally adapt the original OBQ version into Spanish (OBQ-E); (2) to analyze the psychometric properties of the OBQ-E for use in the Spanish population.…”

Exploring the Occupational Balance of Young Adults during Social Distancing Measures in the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…Therefore, the imbalance occurs when people’s health needs such as physical exercise, social relationships and rest, or the needs to do, be, and become, are not covered through participation in daily occupations [ 23 ]. Factors such as physical, cognitive, psychosocial and sensorimotor impairments [ 24 ], occupational deprivation and occupational injustice [ 22 ] were demonstrated to hinder the performance of daily and meaningful occupations in the general population, as well as by suffering from psychological and emotional disorders [ 25 , 26 , 27 ]. More specifically, one study found low levels of occupational balance in Swedish adults with anxiety and depression [ 28 ], and Wagman et al [ 23 ] demonstrated in their research that young adults associate having a balanced life with good health.…”

Relationship between Sleep, Digital Usage and Emotional States in Thai Occupational Therapy Students

“…[22] The scoring criterion for each item was between 0-3. For depression there were 5 levels of judging a trend as normal (0-4), mild (5-6), moderate (7-10), severe (11)(12)(13) and extremely severe (14 or above). For anxiety there were normal (0-3), mild (4-5), moderate (6-7), severe (8-9) and extremely severe (10 or above).…”

“…[10] The Spanish OTS study (n = 192) resulted a self-control on their internet use only 3.2% of samples and a moderate occupational imbalance (averaged 38.7 out of 65) meaning stress related too little spending on productive activities and too much internet activities without social engagement. [11] As seen those OTS studies were discussed in non-Thai cultural contexts and a number of lifestyle modification has been suggested [12][13][14][15], this study was firstly interested in…”