Relationship between Religious Attitude and General Health of Medical Science Students in Different Regions in Iran

Background: Religion and religiosity have important effect on physical and mental aspects of human, and thusreligious study is nowadays a new and attractive field of study. The role of religion in general health of studentsstimulated the conduction of this study.Materials and Methods: In this descriptive-analytical study, 1,900 students of Lorestan, Fasa, Shiraz, Golestan,Kerman, and Shahrekord Universities of Medical Sciences were selected for evaluation, using stratified randomsampling. The demographic questionnaire, Khodayarifard s religious attitude questionnaire, and general healthinventory were distributed among students. Data was analyzed with descriptive tests, chi-square test, andPearson correlation coefficient, using SPSS.Results: The mean and standard deviation of age, general health score, and religious attitude score of students,on a scale of 100, were 22.18±3.24 years, 23.17±8.14, and 82.4±10.35, respectively. Among the students, 13%had medium religious attitude and 87% (1,653) had strong religious attitude. A positive relationship wasobserved between religious attitude and mental health. A significant direct correlation was also observedbetween religious attitude and general health (p<0.05).Conclusion: Results indicated that the majority of medical science students had strong religious attitude. Apositive significant correlation was observed between religious attitude and general health. Since more than halfof the students demanded the holding of religious question and answer sessions and marriage workshops, thenecessity of holding such courses was further sensed.

Keywords:

Student , Religious Attitude , Mental Health