Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics

Background and Objectives: Depression, as one of the common mental disorders, has a main contribution to the burden of diseases. Regarding the adverse effects of depression on different aspects of life, this study was conducted to study association between depression and spiritual health among students.

Methods: This cross-sectional, descriptive, and analytical study was conducted on the students of faculties of health and Quranic Sciences in 2015-2016. A demographic questionnaire, Spiritual Health Scale, and Beck's Depression Inventory were used to collect data. Sampling was conducted by census. The data were analyzed by chi-square test, Pearson correlation coefficient, Mann-Whitney test, and Spearman's correlation coefficient in SPSS 16. For all analytical tests, the level of significance was considered 0.05.

Results: Statistically, spiritual health and depression were significantly and inversely correlated among the students (p≤0.001, r=-0.619). Spiritual health was significantly different between the faculties.

Conclusion: High level of spiritual health is associated with relieved depression. Therefore, spiritual health can be used to prevent and control depression.