Journal of Research on Religion and Health
Year:2018 | Volume:4 | Issue:3 |Papers Count:11

Spiritual health is a new concept in the area of health, attracting the attention of many health-related researchers in recent decades. This notion was initially proposed and developed in western societies. The health system of our country has begun to investigate the issue in recent years. Given that spiritual health is rooted in people’s beliefs and culture (which are essential elements in defining and exploiting spiritual health), examining the Islamic and western viewpoints toward this concept prevents the waste of many resources and sheds light on the notions that have remained unknown to our society.

Background and Objective: Sleep quality is an important clinical construct whose core components as well as its relative significance differs from person to person. Given that, this study aimed to examine the relationship of sleep quality and sleep hygiene with Islamic lifestyle and self-reported religious orientation among high school students of Sarpol-e Zahab. Method: This descriptive study is cross-sectional and correlational. The study population consisted of all high school male students in Sarpol-e Zahab in 2016. Through multi-stage cluster sampling, 370 participants were selected. They completed demographic variables questionnaire, ILST, and ROI. Descriptive data analysis, PSQI, SHI, regression and Pearson correlation coefficients were used to analyze the data. All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests.Results: Based on the findings, the absolute value of the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.62 to 0.83; and indicators of sleep with Islamic lifestyle and religious orientation showed significant positive correlation (P<0.05). In addition, the statistical analyses using regression demonstrated that Islamic lifestyle and religious orientation together predicted 61 percent of the variance. Conclusion: The results adduce the argument that those who have higher levels of Islamic lifestyle and religious orientation experience better indicators of sleep.

Background and Objective: Self-control in religious texts is a comprehensive and unique system, which is derived from the surveillance of God upon one’s actions and control of one's own actions. Since self-control in Islamic teachings plays a decisive role in human life, this study aimed to examine the correlations among family functioning, self-control and religious orientation among mothers of children with autism. Method: This descriptive correlational study used a convenience sampling technique. 100 mothers of autistic children participated in this study in years 1394 and 1395. The Participants completed 3 questionnaires: Tangney Self-control Scale, General Functioning subscale of the MC Master Family Assessment Device (FAD), and Allport Religious Orientation Scale. Data analysis was performed using multiple regression analysis and Pearson correlation coefficient. All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests. Results: The findings indicated a significant positive correlation between self-control and religious orientation and also between self-control and family functioning (p<0.05). This means that the more self-control, the higher religious orientation, and vice versa. Furthermore, with increase in family functioning, self-control increased and the other way round (p<0.05). No relationship between family functioning and internal and external religious orientation was found.Conclusion: The findings of the present study highlight the relationship between religious-orientation and self-control. Therefore, preventive measures, education, and religious interventions along with self-control need to considered more than before.

Background and Objective: Spiritual health is a valuable asset that affects humans’ mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the mental health and spiritual health among the staff of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences in 2016. Method: In this cross-sectional study, 267 employees of Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences were surveyed by simple random sampling. The data collection tools included Goldenberg’s General Health Questionnaire and Paloutzian and Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson product moment correlation. In this research, all ethical issues were observed. In addition, the authors did not report any conflict of interests. Results: According to the results of the study, the mean mental health score was 2.98, while the mean score of spiritual health was 3.62. In addition, there was a significant correlation between the mental and spiritual health (r=0.324). Considering the subscales of mental health, spiritual health registered the highest and lowest correlations with depression and physical symptoms respectively.Conclusion: Improving the mental health of the effective and constructive population of the society is necessary for the dynamism, prosperity and promotion of the society. Spiritual health affects the university staff's mental health. Therefore, planning to promote it is an important issue that should be considered by the relevant authorities and policy makers.

Background and Objective: The fear of surgery, death, and the debilitating symptoms of the illness make hospitalized patients develop anxiety and depression that may disrupt their performance. Religious care aimed at addressing the religious needs of hospitalized patients can have a significant role in increasing the hospitalized patients’ ability to cope with their illness. Therefore, the researchers aimed to set up a religious-based plan and perform it by the presence of a clergy next to the patients’ bedside and determine its effectiveness on decreasing anxiety and depression of hospitalized patients. Method: In this randomized controlled clinical trial with control group, 142 hospitalized patients were chosen in the form of random sampling in Nekoui hospital of Qom. They were divided into a test and a control group. Then, the demographic questionnaire and the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale were completed by them. The religious-based plan by the presence of a clergy next to the patients’ bedside was performed in the test group. The two groups were followed after the intervention. All ethical issues were observed in this study and the researchers declared no conflict of interests. Results: In terms of overall score of hospital anxiety and depression, the results of ANCOVA showed a statistically meaningful difference between the two groups after the intervention (F=35.75, P<0.001). Also, the results of paired-samples t-test showed a significant decline in the anxiety and depression of hospitalized patients in the intervention group (P= 0.001). In contrast, no measurable difference was observed in the anxiety and depression scores of patients in the control group (P= 0.10, P= 0.48). Conclusion: The presence of special medical teams like responsible clergies who are familiar with health issues and the provision of religious care can decrease patients’ anxiety and depression. Such a religious intervention also has a significant role in boosting patients’ morale and reducing their woes.

Background and Objective: In Islamic approach profound belief in God’s traits has an important effect on development of personality. Based on Islamic teachings, the function of appearing God’s traits in life is twofold. First, it makes individuals resilient to the pressure of life and crisis. Second, a model of identification paves the way for human to achieve his ultimate goal and self-actualization. This study aims to introduce a new tool for assessment of individuals’ identification with God’s traits.Method: This fundamental research was conducted as a survey. To collect the data, all God’s traits were first gathered from Islamic text books. As the next step, collected traits were reviewed and modified based on various criteria. Finally, 53 traits were extracted and designed as a questionnaire with Likert scale. As for the sample, Random Stratified Sampling was used. 400 individuals who were from different socio-economic levels completed the questionnaire (71.5% urban area, 25.8% rural area, Male=50%, Female=50%). To determine reliability and validity, the data were analyzed using: Cronbach's alpha, Bartlett's Test, Factor Analysis, Conduct validity, and Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin. All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests.Results: According to Spearman Correlation, validity was .88% (P<.001) and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 95%. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) test was calculated for sampling adequacy which was reported to be .93% (.000).Conclusion: Findings revealed that this questionnaire has acceptable validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be utilized to assess individuals’ identification with God’s traits.

Background and Objective: Family is the main center to form fundamental moral concepts. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of teaching moral concepts in family via Islamic-based storytelling on coping style and mental health of female teenagers.Method: This semi-experimental study had a pretest-posttest design. The population consisted of all female students of the secondary schools in Kerman in 2015 and 2016. Through convenience sampling method, 42 students were selected and randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (21 participants in each group). Folkman and Lazarus coping style (WOCQ) and Schutte mental health (DASS-21) were used for data collection. In the experimental group, participants received nine weekly sessions of teaching moral concepts in family through storytelling method while the control group received no treatment. Eventually, the collected data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests.Results: The findings indicated a significant and positive difference between post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in terms of problem-focused coping style and mental health (P<0.001). The emotion-oriented coping styles in the experimental group was significantly lower than the control group (P<0.001). In other words, teaching moral concepts in family through storytelling method based on Islamic concepts led to reduction in emotion-oriented coping style, increase in problem-focused coping style and also mental health of teenage girls.Conclusion: Given the importance of emotional control and mental health in adolescents, teaching moral concepts in the family through Islamic-based storytelling can be used to enhance problem-focused copying style and mental health of female teenagers.

Background and Objective: Excitement forms a great part of life and religious beliefs are regarded as psychological motivation rooted in human nature, and coping styles as a series of cognitive and behavioral processes to prevent, manage or reduce stress. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the relationship of religious beliefs and coping styles with emotional intelligence among high school students in the city of Shush.Method: The research method in this study was descriptive and correlational. The population of the study included all high school students, both male and female (2012 in total, 1254 girls and 758 boys). 200 students were selected and required to complete three questionnaires, namely Emotional Intelligence by Bar-On, Religious Attitude by Golriz and Baraheni (1975) and Strategies developed by Lazarus. To analyze the data, descriptive statistical methods and Pearson correlation coefficient were used. It should be noted that all ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests. Results: Based on the results of the present study, there is a significant relationship (p>0.05; r=0.389) between religious beliefs and emotional intelligence of high school students in the city of Shush and also between coping style and emotional intelligence (p>0.05; r=0.821).Conclusion: Given the results of this study, teachers are recommended to hold workshops for students at school in order to familiarize them with the religion and Islam so that students become more familiar with religion.

Background and Objective: Forgiveness is a concept taken into consideration in religion and positive psychology, and its constructive role in mental health and creating healthy relationships has been emphasized. Having said that, the aim of this study was predicting interpersonal forgiveness based on religious orientation dimensions among students at high school city of Tabriz. Method: This descriptive-correlational study employed a sample of 250 students selected according to the Morgan table using multi-stage cluster sampling among high schools of district 2 in Tabriz. They filled Religious Orientation scale by Alport and Ross as well as Interpersonal Forgiveness scale by Ehteshamzadeh et al. The data were analyzed by the means of statistical methods of Pearson Correlation and Multivariate linear regression. It is worth noting that all ethical issues were observed in this research and the researcher declared no conflict of interests.Results: The results indicated that there was a significant and positive relation between intrinsic religious orientation and interpersonal forgiveness (P<.05; r= .275) and there was no statistical relation between extrinsic religious orientation and interpersonal forgiveness (p>.05; r= -.014). In addition, the results of regression analysis demonstrated that intrinsic religious orientation can predict 9% of interpersonal forgiveness variance in a meaningful way.Conclusion: Based on the results, it can be concluded that those who honestly believe in religious teachings and act upon them have greater forgiveness and seek compromises in the case of conflicts.

Background and Objective: Decision making is of great importance in not only personal and social life but also organizational life. One of the most key factors influencing the decision making process is the value system as well as the beliefs and thoughts of decision-makers. Since the value system in Islam is fully comprehensiveness, in this research, the health managers’ decision-making process on the basis of the values and ethical principles from the Islamic point of view is examined. Method: ‘Content analysis’ is used in this study which falls into the category of non-experimental or descriptive research. The Islamic references and sources such as “Holy Quran”, “Nah al-balagha”, “Ghorar al-hekam & Dorar al-kalem”, “Al-kafi”, “Al-hayat” and also a number of related books and papers were investigated in this study. All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests. Results: In this research, three general steps were taken for the health managers’ decision-making process based on the teachings of the Holy Quran, which included “decision-making”, “decision implementation” and “reliance on God”. In order to accurately explain the steps above, a number of distinct and interpretable indices, derived from three main sources of Islamic studies, namely the “Holy Qur'an”, “the Prophet's Sunnah”, and “the life-method of infallible Imams”, were extracted, explained and interpreted.Conclusion: Any health manager or any ordinary Muslim can use the Islamic factors extracted in this research beside the science of decision-making for the triple stages of decision-making in his decision-making process and finally can complete his decision-making process relying on Almighty Allah, with an indomitable spirit. This way, in addition to succeeding in decision making, he will feel the consent of the Almighty Creator in every single stage of decision-making.

Background and Objective: A major proportion of discussions in temperament medicine have to do with the four types of temperament, namely phlegmatic, melancholic, choleric, and sanguine. Similar titles can be detected in medical hadiths of Ahl al-Bayt (AS). The question is: Are the temperaments proposed in hadiths equivalent to the ones explicated in traditional medicine? The current study sought to answer this question. Method: Following an explanatory-comparative design, the study utilized content analysis to explain temperaments from the perspective of Ahl al Bayt’s hadiths. The results were then compared with Hippocrates’ ideas in traditional medicine. The research focused on reference books in hadiths and traditional medicine. All ethical issues were observed in this study and the researchers declared no conflict of interests.Results: The results indicated that, in hadiths, the term “temperament” refers to different mixtures of human body. The four mixtures of human body include rih, marrah, blood, and phlegm. No reference has been made to black bile and yellow bile in hadiths. On the other hand, some experts believe that black bile and yellow bile are subcategories of marrah. According to traditional medicine, the four elements of earth, water, air, and fire correspond to the four temperaments of melancholic, phlegmatic, sanguine, and choleric respectively. Also, another subtle material, known as vapor spirit, originates from the four temperaments.Conclusion: Based on the obtained results, there are similarities between what has been dubbed “four temperaments and vapor spirit” in traditional medicine and what has been discussed in medical hadiths about the body mixture of humans.