The relationship between familiarity with the Quran and mental health in nursing students

Background & One effective ways to increase the capacity of people to cope with the harshness of life is religion. One of the most important tools to maintain and strengthen the mental health is familiarity with the Quran and its teachings. The mental health and the treatment of mental problems are very important among the students. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between familiarity with the Quran and mental health in students. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 143 nursing students in Kashan University of Medical Sciences in 2012. The samples were randomly selected using block method. Data were collected by questionnaires demographic data and familiarity with the Quran and the General Health questionnaire (GHQ28) of Goldberg. Data were analyzed by SPSS 11. 5 and descriptive and analytic statistics. The mean age of students was 22. 18±3. 5 years and 53. 1% of them was female. The results showed that 53. 1% and 24. 5% of students had high and low familiarity with the Quran، respectively and 11. 2% of them had psychological problems. Healthy students than students with mental problems had high familiarity with the Quran (p<0. 01). There was a reverse relationship and significant difference between familiarity with Quran and depression and anxiety in students. Regarding the students'' familiarity with the Quran and its relation to mental health، it seems that the strengthening and improving the familiarity with the Quran is a basic way to prevent and improve the mental disorders. The lack of time، proper planning and attractive training programs in university are the effective factors in separating students from Quran. Therefore، it is necessary to increase familiarity with the Quran and mental health with appropriate measures and planning and changes in cultural policy.