Journal of Research on Religion and Health
Year:2020 | Volume:6 | Issue:1|Papers Count:12

Background and Objective: The main purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between attachment to God, attachment to adults, resilience, self-compassion and mindfulness in undergraduate students at Tehran University. Methods: 200 students (100 males and 100 females) were selected by cluster sampling method and completed the attachment to God, attachment to adults, resilience, and self-compassion and mindfulness questionnaires. The research design was correlational. Pearson correlation and path analysis were used to analyze the data. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The results showed that there was a positive and meaningful relationship between secure attachment to God and resilience, mindfulness and compassion but a negative relationship between avoidant attachment and resilience, mindfulness and compassion. Also, the results showed that attachment to adults had a positive and significant correlation with resiliency, but there was no significant relationship between anxiety attachment to adults and mindfulness and resilience. Also, based on the results, resilience and secure attachment to God could positively predict mindfulness. Conclusion: Those with secure attachment to God value themselves and know that God loves and helps them and responds to their desires and prayers. On the contrary, people with avoidant attachment regard God as out of reach.

Background and Objective: The most important goal of any organization is to achieve the highest level of optimal efficiency. One of the most important factors involved in optimal efficiency is the human resources. Nurses, as one of the most important human resources in hospitals, are affected by several factors including emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence, which can lead to quality improvement in health services and productivity. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship of spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence with job performance of nurses in hospitals of Tabriz. Methods: This study was applied in terms of purpose and descriptivecorrelational in terms of method. The sample population of this study included all the female nurses in Tabriz out of which 360 were selected using Morgan table and multi-stage cluster random sampling method. Data was collected using questionnaires including emotional intelligence (Siberia Shearing), spiritual intelligence (king), job performance (Paterson) questionnaires. The collected data was analyzed using Pierson Correlation Coefficient and regression. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the author. Results: The results showed that there was a meaningful relationship between the components of spiritual intelligence and emotional intelligence and the performance of female nurses (P>0. 05). There was also a significant relationship between the components of emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence components of nurses (P<0. 05). Based on the regression results, emotional intelligence predicted 19/18 percent of the variance in spiritual intelligence (P<0. 05). Emotional intelligence predicted 5/8 percent (P<0. 05) and the spiritual intelligence predicted 1/2 percent of the variance in performance (P<0. 05). Conclusion: Based on the results of the study, it can concluded that nurses’ performance can be enhanced through Spiritual Intelligence and Emotional Intelligence. Having emotional and spiritual intelligence skills can help to improve nursing performance and the equality of services among patients. Hence, hospital managers should take the required measures for promoting the emotional and spiritual intelligence of nurses.

Background and Objective: Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused drugs in the world. Today, despite extensive studies, preservative treatments to prevent recurrence of alcohol addiction have not been successful. Religion, as one of the main pillars of a nation's culture, has a powerful potential in preventing mental disorders and could be effective to prevent relapsing into alcohol consumption. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the Islamic-based training of the harms of taking alcohol on reducing alcohol craving and relapse into alcohol consumption in individuals with a history of alcohol addiction in the Alcoholics Anonymous Association (AA) in Tehran, 1396. Methods: This study was quasi-experimental in nature and used a pre-test and post-test control group design. The statistical population was composed of all the members of Alcoholics Anonymous Association (AA) in Tehran. Thirty individuals were selected by available sampling method. They were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. Data was collected using the craving questionnaire. The course was presented in six two-hour sessions of training in which the attitude of Islam to alcohol consumption and the relevant scientific findings were discussed. ANOVA was used to determine the effect of Islamic-based training of the harms of alcohols on reducing alcohol craving and relapse. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The findings showed the effectiveness of this kind of training on reducing alcohol craving and relapse at a significant level (P<0. 05) in individuals with a history of alcohol addiction. Conclusion: It seems that Islamic-based training of the harms of alcohol could be potentially considered as an appropriate option to decrease alcohol craving in individuals with a history of alcohol addiction. Therefore, considering the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of this method and its importance, it is recommended that individuals, organizations and the media use this method.

Background and Objective: Exceptional education teachers are in a very stressful working environment, which is the cause of burnout. The present study examined the factors affecting job burnout. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship of practical commitment to religious beliefs and psychological hardiness with burnout among teachers of exceptional children's schools in Kerman, Iran in 2015. Methods: This is a descriptive correlational study. 182 teachers working in exceptional children's schools in Kerman were selected to participate in the study. Data were gathered using a practical commitment to religious beliefs questionnaire, Ahwaz psychological hardiness questionnaire and Maslach burnout inventory questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed using Pearson correlation coefficient. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The results showed that there was a significantly negative relationship between practical commitment to religious beliefs and psychological hardiness and the burnout of teachers in three dimensions of emotional exhaustion, occupational involvement and depersonalization, but a significantly positive correlation between practical commitment to religious beliefs and psychological hardiness and Teachers' job burnout in the personal performance dimension (P<0. 05). Also, the results of multiple linear regression showed that practical commitment to religious beliefs and psychological hardiness of exceptional children teachers could significantly predict job burnout. Conclusion: The results of this study can be used to guide the development and perfection of religious beliefs as well as the inclusion of psychological hardiness components in formal and informal education of teachers of exceptional school children to reduce their vulnerability to stress and control job burnout.

Background and Objective: Self-control plays a significant role in physical and spiritual health. Studies have shown that spiritual attitudes and religious teachings play a role in promoting self-control. The purpose of this study was to determine the components of self-control construct in Shiite youth. Methods: Based on the purpose of the study, i. e. determining the selfcontrol construct, and based on criterion-oriented studies in this regard, in the present study, qualitative approach was applied with grounded theory method for collecting data. The participants were 32 youths whose selfcontrol was evaluated using a semi-structured interview. In this study, all the ethical considerations were observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The findings of this study showed that self-control construct in Shiite youth has four main components and fourteen subcomponents: 1) Attitude (belief in the benefits of avoidance, belief in harms of committing, attention to the emotions involved in the problem, problem solving, self-esteem); 2) self-motivation ability (the benefits of avoiding, paying attention to the damage done, paying attention to the emotions involved in the problem, and positive self-assertion); 3) the ability to control oneself and the environment (the ability to control attention, the ability to control impulse, the ability to control the environment, the active conditioning, socializing with good friends); and 4) adaptability, self-awareness, problem solving ability, flexibility, acceptance of excitement and behavior management, secondary positive evaluation. Conclusion: By comparing the results of the presents study with the textbased studies such as the one by Rafi’ ee Honar, who considers the selfcontrol construct as self-monitoring, target recognition, motivation, excitement control, cognitive control and persistent control, it can be found that the model developed in the present study makes the psychological self-control constructs more clear and, consequently, provides a more appropriate ground for developing self-control scales of the Shiite youth and appropriate psychological training programs for promoting self-control.

Background and Objective: Psychological distress is one of the most common problems that students experience. The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of mediator of self-interest compassion in the relationship between psychological vulnerability and attachment to God. Methods: The present study is descriptive and correlational. The statistical population of the study included all female students studying at in Karaj Islamic Azad University in 1395. Using simple random sampling method, 280 people were calculated selected to participate in the study. The research related data were collected by using self-compassion questionnaire, short form of depression, anxiety and stress questionnaire, and attachment to God questionnaire. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient and regression and The Baron and Kenny method was used to test the intermediate mediating effects. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The results showed that there was a significant relationship between attachment to God with and self-compassion (P<0. 05, r=0. 61) and psychological vulnerability (P<0. 05, r=-0/60). Also, attachment to God could explain 52 percent of the changes in psychological vulnerability alone, but self-compassion and attachment to God can explained 61 percent of the changes in psychological vulnerability. Conclusion: The results of this research emphasize the need to recognize the role of self-compassion and attachment to God in the reducing student's psychological vulnerability.

Background and Objective: Finding effective therapeutic approaches to improving the spirituality of individuals, especially couples, is very helpful in reconciling their differences, enhancing their intimacy and preventing family problems. The present study attempts to compare the effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), emotionfocused therapy (EFT) and combined therapy in the spiritual beliefs of couples referring to counseling centers. Methods: The study was quasi-experimental and used a pre-test, post-test control group design. The participants were selected from the families referring to counseling centers in Sari using available sampling method. People with an IQ of higher than 85 and no addiction were included in the study. They responded to Inclusive Spirituality Index (ISI), and 56 couples with scores lower than the average were randomly selected and assigned to experimental and control groups. Group 1 participated in ten 90-minute sessions of ACT, Group 2 in six 90-minute sessions of EFT and Group 3 in Sixteen 90-minute sessions of combined therapy and the control group received no treatment. The participations were finally retested using ISI A delayed posttest was also administered after one month. Considering normal distribution of the data, the significance of the results was tested by covariance analysis and Mauchly's Sphericity Test. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors. Results: The three forms of treatment significantly increased spiritual well-being of the spouses asking for divorce, but no significant difference was observed among the three groups. The effects were found to persist after one month. Conclusion: Based on the findings, all three methods of intervention can promote the spiritual well-being of the couples, spirituality can be changed, and spiritual well-being increases through education and therapy. Accordingly, the originality of ACT and EFT lies in increasing the spiritual well-being of couples demanding divorce and reducing divorce rates.

Background and Objective: As universal concept that generally denotes a connection with a transcendental power and specifically defined as a search for finding a purpose in life, spirituality has gained attention in academic, educational, and cultural areas more than before. Therefore, it is a necessity to design and use the proper tools to measure this phenomenon. This study aims to develop and validate a questionnaire to “ measure spirituality” among university students. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study with a statistical society of 464 university students in Sanandaj province. The research tools include a demographic and a spirituality questionnaire. Data analysis involved a two-phase approach including an exploratory factor analysis using principal components analyses method via varimax rotation approach, and confirmatory factor analysis using structural equation modeling. In this study, all the ethical considerations were observed and the authors reported to conflicts of interest. Results: The results of Exploratory factor analysis pointed to the existence of two main dimensions named spiritual experiences and religious experiences which explained 56% of the variance in the spirituality questionnaire. Cronbach alpha coefficient for the dimensions confirmed in factor analysis including spirituality experiences and religious experiences and for the whole questionnaire was 0/88, 0/90, and 0/92, respectively. Convergent validity of the spirituality questionnaire, measured by Parsian and Dunning Spirituality questionnaire, was 0/66. Conclusion: The findings indicated that, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI) of this model is acceptable and could be used as a reliable tool in measurement of university students’ spirituality scale, health psychology, and spirituality well-being.

Background and Objective: Islamic life skills are the abilities that develop by emphasizing religious instructions and continuous practice, prepare adolescents for encountering life problems and increase their social and mental abilities and skills. Accordingly, the need for interventions at the education level to prevent social harms is more highly felt. The present study examined the effect of instruction of Islamic life skills on self-regulation learning strategies, identity styles and development of moral sense in students. Methods: This was an interventional study involving a clinical trial in which a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was used. The statistical population included all the high school students in male-only schools in the first grade in region 22 of Tehran, who were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling and out of which Shahid Motahhari School was randomly selected. Forty students were selected from this school using accessible sampling, who were assigned to experimental (n=20) and control (n=20) groups. The former received eight weekly sessions of intervention in the form of instruction of Islamic life skills. The data collection instruments included Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ), Identity Styles Questionnaire (6G-ISI) and Defining Issues Test (DIT). The collected data was analyzed using covariance analysis. In this study, all the ethical considerations were observed and the authors reported to conflicts of interest. Results: Based on the findings, instruction of Islamic life skills caused improved scores in self-regulation learning strategies (metacognitive=0. 27 and cognitive=0. 59). It also led to changes in normative identity (0. 43) and commitment (0. 76). Instruction of life skills accounted for 37% of the variance in students’ development of moral sense. Conclusion: Instruction of Islamic life skills enables students to develop an independent identity as a pious adolescent committed to religious values, develop their ability to define issues, improve their self-regulation learning strategies and change their knowledge, values and opinions into real abilities.

Background and Objective: The relationship between food and the health of the soul and body is one of the issues mentioned in a monotheistic worldview including Islam. The verse "And We send down of the Qur'an that which is healing and mercy for the believers" confirms the influence of religious teachings in this respect. This study examines the Qur'anic guidelines on food safety and hygiene. Methods: This review study investigates into the health system through library reviews of authentic sources, religious teachings, Quranic verses, authentic statements from the infallibles (Imams and the prophet), important Qur'anic commentaries, statements and books on nutrition on national and international databases. After categorization, the results were analyzed and integrated. The authors declared no conflict of interest. Results: About 250 Qur'anic verses and dozens of statements from the infallibles point to the importance of food and nutrition. The Holy Qur'an mentions the word “ food” 48 times, the word “ eating” 107 times, and the word “ drink” 39 times. In the verses related to food, it has been mentioned six times that food should be Halal, and in various interpretations, the importance of nourishing the body is emphasized. Attitude to food as a sign in knowing God, believing in divine generosity, enjoying divine intent, asserting the rights of those in need, clean eating, having a balanced diet, adhering to halal food, and avoiding forbidden foods are the most important attitudinal and habitual strategies related to food safety. In addition, human dignity is one of the most important outcomes of adhering to Islamic food safety strategies. Conclusion: Since in revelatory doctrines, a healthy diet involves physical, mental, spiritual and social aspects of human life, it is essential that health policy makers consider the Islamic nutritional approach to achieve a true universal health.

Background and Objective: Some Muslim philosophers tried to present solutions for basic prevention and treatment of worldly grief with a focus on rational principles. This can be observed in al-Kindi’ s thoughts as a first Muslim philosopher. Other important philosophers like Razi and Ibn Hazm also tried to more deeply pay attention to the issue. Therefore, the purpose of the present study is to check out the solutions presented by al-Kindi, Razi and Ibn Hazm for controlling worldly grief. Methods: This is a library-based study organized as a descriptive-analytic method and tries to investigate al-Kindi, Razi and Ibn Hazm’ s works on basic prevention and treatment of worldly grief. The author declared no conflict of interest. Results: The findings of this study point to the existence of a rational solution, which is matched with religious texts in al-Kindi, Razi and Ibn Hazm’ s works. Accordingly, al-Kindi, Razi and Ibn Hazm consider human mistake in attitude to the world as the main cause of worldly grief. In other words, getting engaged in the material issues directs the spirit toward grief. At the time of grief, the attitude toward life needs be reconsidered. Conclusion: Based on the findings if a person can adopt a logical view of life in the world and act in the right way, he/she can control the worldly grief and replace it with happiness.