The association between spiritual health and the intention to perform risky behaviors in university of medical sciences students

The importance of spiritual health, about preventing health-threatening behaviors and adherence to maintaining existing health, has been considered, especially among young people. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between spiritual health and the intention to engage in risky behaviors in the students of Jiroft City in 2021.

The present study is a descriptive and correlational study that was conducted by census method on 608 students of Jiroft University of Medical Sciences. Data collection tools were standard questionnaires of high-risk behaviors and spiritual health. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 18 software and Pearson correlation, independent t-tests, and one-way analysis of variance.

The results showed that more than 72% of the students participating in the study were girls. The mean and standard deviation of spiritual health (72.53±10.86) were in the average range. Dimensions of religious health, existential health, and spiritual health had a significant difference between male and female students (p<0.001). Also, there was a significant negative relationship between spiritual health and the intention of risky behaviors (p<0.001).

Considering the inverse relationship between spiritual health and the intention to engage in high-risk behaviors in medical students of Jiroft, conducting educational interventions using solutions that focus on increasing spiritual health can reduce the tendency to risky behaviors and their physical, psychological, and social consequences in students.