Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics
Volume:8 Issue: 2, Aug 2021

Understanding the influences of parents on children in the process of psychosocial and personality development of children and adolescents has been the focus of psychologists and sociologists. This study aimed to predict the emotional and social competence of the child based on spiritual health and maternal emotional structure according to the mediating role of children’s attachment style.

The statistical population of this correlational descriptive was female primary school students and their mothers in Tehran City, Iran. Of them, 250 individuals were selected by purposive and voluntary sampling method using Klein’s method. The research instruments included Zhu and Ji’s (2012) Emotional and Social Competency Inventory, Polutzin and Ellison’s Spiritual Well-Being Scale (SWBS), and Kern’s Attachment Style Classification QuestionnaireAttachment style. The collected data were analyzed using AMOS.

The obtained results suggested that the structure of maternal metacognition was directly related to children’s attachment style (-0.33); maternal spiritual health and children’s attachment style (0.37); the structure of maternal metacognition and the emotional-social competence of the child (-0.26); mothers’ spiritual health and child’s emotional and social competence (0.18), and the child’s attachment style and the child’s emotional and social competence (0.49). The structure of maternal emotional well-being and the emotional-social competence of the child (-0.16) as well as the spiritual health of the mother and the emotional-social competence of the child (0.18) were indirectly related.

Considering the importance of the child’s emotional and social competence, the emphasis on the influential factors of the present study can be promoted in developing this skill among children. Maternal spiritual health and emotional structure were related to the child’s emotional and social competence through the attachment style of the child; the strongest relationship concerned the relationship between attachment style and emotional and social competence.

There exists a relationship between spirituality and depression. Moreover, psychological interventions are effective in this regard. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) with and without compassion on spiritual fatalism and depression in non-clinically depressed diabetic patients.

This was a quasi-experimental study with a pre-test, post-test and follow-up and a control group design. The statistical population included all non-clinical depressed patients with type 2 diabetes in the welfare centers of Mashhad City, Iran, in 2020. To form 3 research groups using the purposive sampling method, 33 subjects were selected and randomly divided into the study groups. Moreover, after 2 months, a follow-up test was performed on the research groups. The research instruments included the Patient Health Questionnaire (Depression) by Arbi et al. and the Diagnosis Scale of Egede and Ellis Diabetes.

The repeated measures analysis of variance data suggested that the ACT approaches with and without compassion intervention were effective in increasing spiritual fatalism (P<0.05) and reducing depression (P<0.05) in the explored nonclinical depressed diabetic patients. Moreover, the follow-up data revealed the stability of the collected results (P<0.05).

ACT, as an effective intervention can be used in medical centers to increase spiritual fatalism and reduce depression in diabetic patients with depression vulnerability

The widespread prevalence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused stress, anxiety, and worry in different groups, including students. Thus, this study aimed to determine the role of spiritual intelligence and distress tolerance in predicting COVID-19 anxiety in students.

This was a correlation and regression modeling (prediction) study. The statistical population of the study included all male students of Farhangian University of Shahid Bahonar Campus in Birjand City, Iran, in the academic year of 2020-2021. Accordingly, 260 individuals were selected by the convenience sampling method; they volunteered to participate in the study and virtually completed the King (2008) Spiritual Intelligence Questionnaire, Simon and Gaher (2005) Anxiety Tolerance Questionnaire, and Alipour et al.’s (2020) Corona Disease Anxiety Scale. Pearson correlation test and multiple regression analysis were employed in SPSS to analyze the collected data.

The present study results indicated an inverse and significant correlation between distress tolerance (r= -0.666), spiritual intelligence (r= -0.618), and COVID-19 anxiety (P<0.01). Additionally, the achieved results revealed that spiritual intelligence (33.6%) and anxiety tolerance (38.8%) predicted the variance of coronary anxiety.

According to the collected results, by increasing the tolerance of anxiety and spiritual intelligence and their dimensions, students’ COVID-19-induced anxiety can be reduced. Therefore, in programs based on reducing COVID-19 anxiety, more attention to distress tolerance, spiritual intelligence, and its promotion in students seems necessary.

Anxiety symptoms include various anxiety, panic, worry, restlessness, and fear that require early diagnosis and intervention. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate the effects of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) using Schema Conceptualization (SC) on patience and psychological symptoms in married women with anxiety symptoms.

This was a quasi-experimental study with pre-test, post-test and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all married women referring to the Education Counseling Center of Birjand City, Iran, in 2019. Among the individuals who received anxiety scores >30 in the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), based on a simple random sampling method, 30 subjects were selected; they were placed in two experimental and control groups. To collect the necessary data, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale (DASS-21), the BAI, and the Patience Scale was used. Data analysis was performed using Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) and Multivariate Analysis of Covariance (MANCOVA).

The ANCOVA results indicated that ACT using SC effectively increased patience (P=0.001) and decreased psychological symptoms (P=0.002) in the explored subjects with anxiety symptoms. There was a significant difference between patience and the post-test scores of depression, anxiety, and stress in the experimental and control groups.

The present research results suggested that ACT using SC was effective on patience and psychological symptoms in women with anxiety symptoms.

Although coping with risky behaviors (social delinquencies) consumes a substantial share of a nationchr(chr(chr('39')39chr('39'))39chr(chr('39')39chr('39')))s budget, but paying attention to these cases can lead to the prevention and treatment of these risky behaviors. The present study seeks to determine the main and interaction effects of gender and prayer behavior, as a recommended behavior in Islam, on the attitudes of students toward risk behaviors.

This retrospective or ex post facto research was performed to investigate the effect of prayer on the tendency to social risk behaviors in 2019.For this purpose, 340 male and female students from University of Guilan (169 prayerful and 171 prayerless) who were selected through purposive sampling,   answered the Attitude toward Social Delinquencies Inventory of Aghaei and Teimurtash (2010). In order to determine the main and interaction effects of prayer and gender on the total score as well as the dimensions of attitudes to social delinquencies, one-way and multivariate analysis of variance were used in a 2×2 factorial design.

For the subscales, the findings showed that prayerless students were more prone to robbery, free sex relations, suicide and home escape. At the level of gender differences, regardless of prayer behavior, men were found to be more prone to free sex relations, and home escape than women. At the level of interaction effects, it was found that the interaction effect of group membership and gender was only significant on aggression. This means that the mean scores of aggression tendency were higher in the prayerless male group.

These results confirm the protective role of prayer behavior in reducing the tendency to risk behaviors (especially aggression in the male group) in Muslim students of Iran.

Spirituality is an individual’s effort and searches for meaning and purpose in life. Spirituality includes the connection with religious beliefs and some of the chosen beliefs, values, and duties that give meaning to life to achieve the desired perfection. This study aimed to model the structural equations of the relationship between spirituality and psychological wellbeing mediated by spiritual health.

This was a descriptive and correlational study, especially of cause-effect modeling. The statistical population included students of higher education centers in Sanandaj City, Iran, in 2018. Of them, 464 subjects were selected as the research sample by cluster random sampling approach. Measurement tools included researcher-made spirituality questionnaires (2020), Ryff’s Scales of Psychological Well-Being (1980), and the Spiritual Well-Being Scale (Paloutzian & Ellison, 1983).

Data analysis was performed using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, heuristic factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis by structural equation modeling. The results on the model of the relationship between spirituality, psychological well-being, and spiritual health indicated the acceptable desirability of the indicators of goodness of fit of the model (P≤0.01). Other results suggested that higher levels of spirituality were associated with psychological wellbeing and spiritual health.

The present research data revealed an overlap between spirituality, psychological well-being, and spiritual health. Spirituality positively affected psychological wellbeing and spiritual health concerning individual and social adjustment.

Patient autonomy is a recognized principle in modern medical ethics, and truth-telling to the patient; thus, it holds special importance for its contribution to this principle. In practice, however, several challenges emerge that can lead to different responses. This difference is more marked in studies conducted in the Eastern and Muslim countries due to variations in cultural and religious beliefs. Truth-telling is a challenging concept respecting placebos, medical errors, and delivering bad news on diagnosis and treatment to patients.

This study employed an unsystematic review of library and online sources, as well as databases, including Google Scholar, Springer, PubMed, Ovid, and relevant Persian papers in an attempt to provide an overview of this concept and study the Islamic view, particularly the Shi’ite perspective, and the predominant approaches employed in Muslim countries.

Islamic scripture and hadith strongly advocate honesty and truth-telling. However, maleficence to patients and exposing them to serious harm is unallowed, and withholding the whole or a part of the truth; even lying is justified in extreme cases.

Essentially, the philosophy of medicine is based on helping patients and reducing their pains. Considering the unique condition of each patient, a perfect solution cannot be prescribed for all of them and the same strategy to manage all cases. The emphasis on truth-telling in the Islamic view is no less than other schools of thought. However, if disclosing the truth may expose the patient to certain, serious biopsychological risks, denying the whole or a part of the truth might be advisable; even in frequent cases, lying can be justified to protect the patient.