@2024 Afarand., IRAN
ISSN: 2383-2150 Journal of Education and Community Health 2019;6(4):223-229
ISSN: 2383-2150 Journal of Education and Community Health 2019;6(4):223-229
Spiritual Health Status and its Relationship with Demographic Characteristics of Students of Mashhad University of Medical Science
ARTICLE INFO
Article Type
Descriptive & Survey StudyAuthors
Jafari A. (1)Vahedian-Shahroodi M. (*2)
(*2) ”Social Determinants of Health Research Center” and “Health Education & Health Promotion Department, Health Faculty”, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran
(1) ”Social Determinants of Health Research Center” and “Student Research Committee”, Gonabad University of Medical Sciences, Gonabad, Iran
Correspondence
Address: Public Health Faculty, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Daneshgah Street, Mashhad, Khorasan Razavi, Iran. Postal Code: 9137673119Phone: +98 (51) 31892202
Fax: +98 (51) 38713638
vahedianm@mums.ac.ir
Article History
Received: June 15, 2019Accepted: September 20, 2019
ePublished: December 21, 2019
BRIEF TEXT
Spiritual health is one of the important aspects of health, which forms an important part of human life.
… [1-15]. The results of Alurani et al. study showed that students had a moderate level of spiritual health and there was a significant correlation between spiritual health and life satisfaction and social support in students [16]. … [17]. A study by Masoudi Asl et al. on students showed that the students had inadequate spiritual and mental health components and a high percentage of students were suspected of mental health disorder [18]. Rahimi et al. study on medical students in Kerman showed that students' spiritual well-being was at a moderate level; therefore, a proper planning is needed [19]. … [20].
The aim of this study was to determine the status of spiritual health and its relationship with demographic characteristics in students of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.
This research was across-sectional descriptive-analytical study.
This study was conducted on 256 students of Mashhad University of Medical Science in 2018.
The samples were selected by available sampling. Based on a previous study [21] and considering confidence level of 95%, test power of 80%, acceptable error rate of 0.05, and the ratio of 26.26, the sample size was estimated 213 individuals, which was increased to 256 subjects due to the attrition of 20%.
Data collection was done using the demographic and Ellison and Palotzin's spiritual well-being questionnaires. The reliability and validity of this questionnaire were evaluated by Najjar et al. [22] and Cronbach's alpha for spiritual health and religious and existential health dimensions were 0.89, 0.71 and 0.88, respectively, indicating the acceptable validity and reliability of the questionnaire. In the present study, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.84 for religious health, 0.70 for existential health and 0.90 for spiritual health. The obtained data were analyzed by SPSS 24 software using inferential tests (Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Spearman correlation coefficients).
The mean age of the students was 23.47 ± 6.18 years. The majority of the participants were girls and only students. Most of the students were also studying public health (Table 1). Among the participants, only 16.0% (n = 41) had a high level of spiritual health and 84.0% (n = 215) had moderate spiritual health (Table 2).There was a significant relationship between gender and religious health (p = 0.002) and total spiritual health (p = 0.014). Also, there was a significant relationship between occupation, degree and field of study and the dimensions of religious health and existential health and total spiritual health score (p <0.01). There was no significant relationship between age and spiritual health among students (p> 0.05). There was a direct and significant correlation between the dimensions of religious health and existential health with spiritual health. There was also a significant correlation between religious health and existential health (Table 3).
… [23]. The results of Yazdanparast et al. study on medical students were in line with the results of the present study [24]. People with higher levels of spiritual well-being have lower levels of stress, anxiety, and depression as a precursor to suicide than others [25]. The results of Lee study on nursing students also showed that higher levels of religious, existential, and spiritual health were significantly associated with lower levels of stress and perceived depression [17]. Also the results of Mozaffari et al. study showed that increasing spiritual health will increase students' academic achievement [14]. … [26-33].
It is recommended to consider all disciplines of medical sciences in future studies.
One of the limitations of this study was self-report data collection.
Only a few students have a high level of spiritual health, and the majority of subjects have a moderate level of spiritual health. There is a relationship between gender and grade and field of study with their level of spiritual health.
The authors are grateful to all who helped with this research.
None declared.
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Research Council and Medical Ethics Committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (IR.MUMS.REC.1397.158) and the informed consent was obtained from all participants.
This research was supported by the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.
TABLES and CHARTS
Show attach fileCITIATION LINKS
[1]Sadat Hoseini AS, Razaghi N, Khosro Panah AH, Dehghan Nayeri N. A concept analysis of spiritual health. J Relig Health. 2019;58(4):1025-46.
[2]Jafari E, Dehshiri GR, Eskandari H, Najafi M, Heshmati R, Hoseinifar J. Spiritual well-being and mental health in university students. Proc Soc Behav Sci. 2010;5:1477-81.
[3]Sayyadi M, Sayyad S, Vahabi A, Vahabi B, Noori B, Amani M. Evaluation of spiritual health level and its related factors in the students of Sanandaj Universities, 2015. Shenakht J Psychol Psychiatry. 2019;6(1):1-10. [Persian]
[4]Shah R, Kulhara P, Grover S, Kumar S, Malhotra R, Tyagi S. Relationship between spirituality/religiousness and coping in patients with residual schizophrenia. Qual Life Res. 2011;20(7):1053-60.
[5]Chavoshian SA, Moeini B, Bashirian S, Feradmal J. The role of spiritual health and social support in predicting nurses’ quality of life. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(1):19-28. [Persian]
[6]Chavoshian SA, Moeini B, Bashirian S, Feradmal J. The role of spiritual health and social support in predicting nurses’ quality of life. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(1):19-28. [Persian]
[7]Juškienė V. Spiritual health as an integral component of human wellbeing. Appl Res Health Soc Sci Interface Interaction. 2016;13(1):3-13.
[8]Ghanbari Afra L, Zaheri A. Relationship of anxiety, stress, and depression with spiritual health in patients with acute coronary artery disease. J Educ Community Health. 2017;4(2):28-34. [Persian]
[9]Shahbazi Rad A, Ghazanfari F, Abbasi M, Mohammadi F. The role of psychological hardiness and spiritual health in predict of quality of life in students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(2):20-7. [Persian]
[10]Shirkavand L, Abbaszadeh A, Borhani F, Momenyan S. Correlation between spiritual well-being with satisfaction with life and death anxiety among elderlies suffering from cancer. Electron J Gen Med. 2018;15(3):em20.
[11]Hassan J, Sheykhan R, Mahmoodzadeh A, Nikroo M. The role of spiritual well-being and coping strategies in risky behaviors of adolescents. Thoughts Behav Clin Psychol. 2014;9(33):17-26. [Persian]
[12]Ghaempanah Z, Memaryan N, Kochakzaei M, Atoofi MK, Ebrahim AFM. Spiritual interventions for preventing HIV/AIDS in Iran. J Adv Pharm Technol Res. 2018;9(3):94-101.
[13]Dutkova K, Holubcikova J, Kravcova M, Babincak P, Tavel P, Geckova AM. Is spiritual well-being among adolescents associated with a lower level of bullying behaviour? The mediating effect of perceived bullying behaviour of peers. J Relig Health. 2017;56(6):2212-21.
[14]Owusu-Boateng W, Osei I. Student spirituality and academic performance: a case study of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. British J Educ Soc Behav Sci. 2016;17(4):1-13.
[15]Mozaffari Makkiabadi MM, Tabbodi M, Rahgozar H. The relationship between spiritual well-being and academic achievement. Eur Online J Nat Soc Sci. 2013;2(3):3440-5.
[16]Tabibi M, Ahmari Tehran H, Soltani Arabshahi SK, Heidari S, Abdi Z, Safaeipour R. The association between spiritual health and academic achievement in medical students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, 2011. Qom Univ Med Sci J. 2013;7(S1):72-8. [Persian]
[17]Alorani OI, Alradaydeh MF. Spiritual well-being, perceived social support, and life satisfaction among university students. Int J Adolesc Youth. 2018;23(3):291-8.
[18]Lee Y. The relationship of spiritual well-being and involvement with depression and perceived stress in Korean nursing students. Glob J Health Sci. 2014;6(4):169-76.
[19]Masoudi Asl I, Rajabi Vasokolaee G, Goudarzi L, Raadabadi M, Eskandari AH. The evaluation of relationship between mental health and spiritual health of students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2013. Teb va Tazkiye. 2017;23(3):55-66. [Persian]
[20]Rahimi N, Nouhi E, Nakhaei N. Spiritual health among nursing and midwifery students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Hayat. 2014;19(4):74-81.
[21]Asgari Ghoncheh K, Hashemnejad H, Hajibabaei HR. The relationship between spiritual well-being and demographic characteristic of students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. J Qazvin Univ Med Sci. 2018;22(3):50-7. [Persian]
[22]Tavan H, Taghinejad H, Sayehmiri K, Yari Y, Khalafzadeh a, Fathizadeh H, et al. Spiritual health of nursing students. Islam Health J. 2015;2(1):26-32. [Persian]
[23]Najarkolaei FR, Haghighi M, Heydarabadi AB, Ansarian A, Mesri M. Investigation of spiritual health in staff of one Medical Sciences University in Tehran. J Res Relig Health. 2015;1(1):13-20. [Persian]
[24]Mostafazadeh F, Asadzadeh F. Spiritual health of midwifery students. J Health Care. 2012;14(1 and 2):55-60. [Persian]
[25]Babamohammadi H, Ahmadpanah MS, Ghorbani R. Attitudes toward spirituality and spiritual care among Iranian nurses and nursing students: a cross-sectional study. J Relig Health. 2018;57(4):1304-14.
[26]Papazisis G, Nicolaou P, Tsiga E, Christoforou T, Sapountzi-Krepia D. Religious and spiritual beliefs, self-esteem, anxiety, and depression among nursing students. Nurs Health Sci. 2014;16(2):232-8.
[27]Rehman R, Syed S, Hussain M, Shaikh S. Health and spirituality" walk along" in wellness journey of medical students. J Pak Med Assoc. 2013;63(4):495-500.
[28]Rich I. Gender and spirituality: are women really more spiritual [Dissertation]. Lynchburg, Virginia: Liberty University; 2012.
[29]Reid-Arndt SA, Smith ML, Yoon DP, Johnstone B. Gender differences in spiritual experiences, religious practices, and congregational support for individuals with significant health conditions. J Relig Disabil Health. 2011;15(2):175-96.
[30]Aramideh A, Darabinia M, Afkahaminia F, Pahnabi A, Siamian H. Relationship between spiritual health and achievement motivation among students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. J Relig Health. 2018;5(2):50-7. [Persian]
[31]Ziapour A, Kianipour N, Saeidi S, Zangeneh A. Examining the status of spiritual health among students at the autonomous campus of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2016. J Res Relig Health. 2017;3(2):8-19. [Persian]
[32]Hsiao YC, Chiang HY, Chien LY. An exploration of the status of spiritual health among nursing students in Taiwan. Nurse Educ Today. 2010;30(5):386-92.
[33]Saguil A, Fitzpatrick AL, Clark G. Is evidence able to persuade physicians to discuss spirituality with patients? J Relig Health. 2011;50(2):289-99.
[34]Rahimi N, Nouhi E, Nakhaei N. Spiritual well-being and attitude toward spirituality and spiritual care in nursing and midwifery students. Iran J Nurs. 2013;26(85):55-65. [Persian]
[2]Jafari E, Dehshiri GR, Eskandari H, Najafi M, Heshmati R, Hoseinifar J. Spiritual well-being and mental health in university students. Proc Soc Behav Sci. 2010;5:1477-81.
[3]Sayyadi M, Sayyad S, Vahabi A, Vahabi B, Noori B, Amani M. Evaluation of spiritual health level and its related factors in the students of Sanandaj Universities, 2015. Shenakht J Psychol Psychiatry. 2019;6(1):1-10. [Persian]
[4]Shah R, Kulhara P, Grover S, Kumar S, Malhotra R, Tyagi S. Relationship between spirituality/religiousness and coping in patients with residual schizophrenia. Qual Life Res. 2011;20(7):1053-60.
[5]Chavoshian SA, Moeini B, Bashirian S, Feradmal J. The role of spiritual health and social support in predicting nurses’ quality of life. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(1):19-28. [Persian]
[6]Chavoshian SA, Moeini B, Bashirian S, Feradmal J. The role of spiritual health and social support in predicting nurses’ quality of life. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(1):19-28. [Persian]
[7]Juškienė V. Spiritual health as an integral component of human wellbeing. Appl Res Health Soc Sci Interface Interaction. 2016;13(1):3-13.
[8]Ghanbari Afra L, Zaheri A. Relationship of anxiety, stress, and depression with spiritual health in patients with acute coronary artery disease. J Educ Community Health. 2017;4(2):28-34. [Persian]
[9]Shahbazi Rad A, Ghazanfari F, Abbasi M, Mohammadi F. The role of psychological hardiness and spiritual health in predict of quality of life in students of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences. J Educ Community Health. 2015;2(2):20-7. [Persian]
[10]Shirkavand L, Abbaszadeh A, Borhani F, Momenyan S. Correlation between spiritual well-being with satisfaction with life and death anxiety among elderlies suffering from cancer. Electron J Gen Med. 2018;15(3):em20.
[11]Hassan J, Sheykhan R, Mahmoodzadeh A, Nikroo M. The role of spiritual well-being and coping strategies in risky behaviors of adolescents. Thoughts Behav Clin Psychol. 2014;9(33):17-26. [Persian]
[12]Ghaempanah Z, Memaryan N, Kochakzaei M, Atoofi MK, Ebrahim AFM. Spiritual interventions for preventing HIV/AIDS in Iran. J Adv Pharm Technol Res. 2018;9(3):94-101.
[13]Dutkova K, Holubcikova J, Kravcova M, Babincak P, Tavel P, Geckova AM. Is spiritual well-being among adolescents associated with a lower level of bullying behaviour? The mediating effect of perceived bullying behaviour of peers. J Relig Health. 2017;56(6):2212-21.
[14]Owusu-Boateng W, Osei I. Student spirituality and academic performance: a case study of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. British J Educ Soc Behav Sci. 2016;17(4):1-13.
[15]Mozaffari Makkiabadi MM, Tabbodi M, Rahgozar H. The relationship between spiritual well-being and academic achievement. Eur Online J Nat Soc Sci. 2013;2(3):3440-5.
[16]Tabibi M, Ahmari Tehran H, Soltani Arabshahi SK, Heidari S, Abdi Z, Safaeipour R. The association between spiritual health and academic achievement in medical students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, 2011. Qom Univ Med Sci J. 2013;7(S1):72-8. [Persian]
[17]Alorani OI, Alradaydeh MF. Spiritual well-being, perceived social support, and life satisfaction among university students. Int J Adolesc Youth. 2018;23(3):291-8.
[18]Lee Y. The relationship of spiritual well-being and involvement with depression and perceived stress in Korean nursing students. Glob J Health Sci. 2014;6(4):169-76.
[19]Masoudi Asl I, Rajabi Vasokolaee G, Goudarzi L, Raadabadi M, Eskandari AH. The evaluation of relationship between mental health and spiritual health of students at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, 2013. Teb va Tazkiye. 2017;23(3):55-66. [Persian]
[20]Rahimi N, Nouhi E, Nakhaei N. Spiritual health among nursing and midwifery students at Kerman University of Medical Sciences. Hayat. 2014;19(4):74-81.
[21]Asgari Ghoncheh K, Hashemnejad H, Hajibabaei HR. The relationship between spiritual well-being and demographic characteristic of students of Qazvin University of Medical Sciences. J Qazvin Univ Med Sci. 2018;22(3):50-7. [Persian]
[22]Tavan H, Taghinejad H, Sayehmiri K, Yari Y, Khalafzadeh a, Fathizadeh H, et al. Spiritual health of nursing students. Islam Health J. 2015;2(1):26-32. [Persian]
[23]Najarkolaei FR, Haghighi M, Heydarabadi AB, Ansarian A, Mesri M. Investigation of spiritual health in staff of one Medical Sciences University in Tehran. J Res Relig Health. 2015;1(1):13-20. [Persian]
[24]Mostafazadeh F, Asadzadeh F. Spiritual health of midwifery students. J Health Care. 2012;14(1 and 2):55-60. [Persian]
[25]Babamohammadi H, Ahmadpanah MS, Ghorbani R. Attitudes toward spirituality and spiritual care among Iranian nurses and nursing students: a cross-sectional study. J Relig Health. 2018;57(4):1304-14.
[26]Papazisis G, Nicolaou P, Tsiga E, Christoforou T, Sapountzi-Krepia D. Religious and spiritual beliefs, self-esteem, anxiety, and depression among nursing students. Nurs Health Sci. 2014;16(2):232-8.
[27]Rehman R, Syed S, Hussain M, Shaikh S. Health and spirituality" walk along" in wellness journey of medical students. J Pak Med Assoc. 2013;63(4):495-500.
[28]Rich I. Gender and spirituality: are women really more spiritual [Dissertation]. Lynchburg, Virginia: Liberty University; 2012.
[29]Reid-Arndt SA, Smith ML, Yoon DP, Johnstone B. Gender differences in spiritual experiences, religious practices, and congregational support for individuals with significant health conditions. J Relig Disabil Health. 2011;15(2):175-96.
[30]Aramideh A, Darabinia M, Afkahaminia F, Pahnabi A, Siamian H. Relationship between spiritual health and achievement motivation among students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. J Relig Health. 2018;5(2):50-7. [Persian]
[31]Ziapour A, Kianipour N, Saeidi S, Zangeneh A. Examining the status of spiritual health among students at the autonomous campus of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2016. J Res Relig Health. 2017;3(2):8-19. [Persian]
[32]Hsiao YC, Chiang HY, Chien LY. An exploration of the status of spiritual health among nursing students in Taiwan. Nurse Educ Today. 2010;30(5):386-92.
[33]Saguil A, Fitzpatrick AL, Clark G. Is evidence able to persuade physicians to discuss spirituality with patients? J Relig Health. 2011;50(2):289-99.
[34]Rahimi N, Nouhi E, Nakhaei N. Spiritual well-being and attitude toward spirituality and spiritual care in nursing and midwifery students. Iran J Nurs. 2013;26(85):55-65. [Persian]