Abstract
BACKGROUND: Mobile phones have become a widely accepted learning mode due to the impact of COVID-19. This study explores the mobile technology acceptance, among nursing students at selected educational institutions in South India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Quantitative cross-sectional descriptive design. First-year 176 B.Sc. nursing students who underwent blended learning were selected by the purposive sampling method. The tool "Technology Acceptance Model" was used to collect responses. Bivariate analysis was used to determine the relationship between the demographic and study-related variables with the mobile technology acceptance using SPSS version 25.0. RESULTS: The majority 73.9% of the students belonged to the age group of 18-19 years, females 76.7% and, 98.9% were unmarried. Among the constructs of TAM, a mean (SD) value of 22.08 (2.26) was found for material (mobile device audio/video) characteristics the mean (SD) value was 22.08 (2.26), attitude about use 17.58 (1.95), behavioral intention 17.46 (1.78) and system characteristics 17.21 (2.27). The mobile technology acceptance revealed that 126 (71.6%) strongly agreed, 49 (27.8%) agreed, and 1 (0.6%) was neutral with a mean (SD) of 105.19 (8.68), respectively. A positive correlation was found between the system characteristics, material characteristics, perceived ease to use, perceived usefulness, attitude about the use, behavioral intention with a P value <0.001. There was a statistically significant association between Mobile technology acceptance and time spent by the students for independent studies shown the Chi-square value of 12.7, with P value <0.05. CONCLUSION: Nursing students had a positive acceptance and behavior toward smartphone use.