Effect of Tavassol prayer on mental health of second year nursing students of School of Nursing

Mental health is one of the most important factors in the promotion and development of people، especially in students. Studies show that there are different percentages of students with a variety of disorders and psychological problems. The purpose of this study is the effect of prayer on mental health of nursing students in the second year. This is quasi-experimental study with two groups of pre-post test method. All second year nursing students (n=58) with census methods were randomly assigned to two groups of intervention (n = 31) and control (n = 27) group. General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was used for data collection. In the intervention group، Tavassol prayer was recite twice a week for 4 weeks. Mental health was assessed before and one month after intervention for two groups. Data analyzed using SPSS ver16software and tests of mean، standard deviation، paired and independent t-tests. the paired t test determined that there was no significant difference in scores of mental health before and after intervention in the intervention group (P=0. 19). But determined significant differences in rates of mental health before and after the intervention group for anxiety and depression scale (P<0. 05). the paired t test determined that there was no significant difference in scores of mental health before and after intervention in the control group (p>0. 05). Tavassol Prayer had an impact on the mental health in anxiety and depression subscales; it is suggested that interested researchers do studies with direct supervision on reciting prayers in the groups in order to add to the findings.