A Study of Happiness in Nursing and Midwifery Students at the Islamic Azad University of Jahrom

In psychology, happiness is defined as a positive emotion which lasts longer than a temporary good feeling; It is a steady condition among one's positive emotions and understanding of life. Happiness is beneficial to the whole society, but the effects of happiness on university students, as the new blood and future makers of nations, have been of greater interest to researchers. The present study aims to explore the factors that induce happiness in nursing and midwifery students. The present study is a descriptive-comparative work of research conducted in 2017 on 200 nursing and midwifery students at the Islamic Azad University of Jahrom in the south of Iran. The subjects were selected based on the census sampling method. To determine the degree of happiness in the subjects, the researchers used the Oxford Happiness Questionnaire developed by Argyle et al. The questionnaire consists of 29 multiple-choice items scored on the Likert scale between 0 and 3. The reliability and validity of the questionnaire have been tested and confirmed in several studies. The collected data were analyzed using ANOVA and T.test. The mean happiness score of the subjects was found to be 40.1±9.1. On the happiness scale, the students' happiness level was medium. 21.9% of the students had low happiness levels (a score of 0 to 28), 71.5% had acceptable happiness levels (a score of 29 to 57), and 6.6% had high happiness levels (a score of 58 to 87). An analysis of the data showed that there was not a significant relationship between the subjects' levels of happiness and any of their demographic characteristics except their term of study (p>0.05). The findings of the present study show that the degree of happiness among nursing and midwifery university students is medium. Since nursing and midwifery university students are a potential labor force in the healthcare systems of societies, it is essential that they maintain acceptable levels of happiness which is a criterion of psychological health. Accordingly, it is recommended that organized measures be taken to improve the psychological health of students and keep it at satisfactory levels throughout the duration of their education.