Relationship between religious orientation and mental health in older people

Given to increasing of life expectancy and population of older people, consideration to mental health and its related variables in older people has been more important. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between religious orientation and mental health in older people. This cross sectional study was conducted on 389 older people in Birjand at 2014 that were selected by multistage sampling. In addition to questionnaire of demographic information, data collection was carried out by using general health questionnaire-28 (GHQ-28) and religious orientation questionnaire of Allport. Data were analyzed using SPSS (V: 18) by the Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation coefficients in 0.05 significant level. The mean age of participants was 63.65 (± 3.74) year. Based on the results of the study, score of religious orientation was significantly higher in people without mental disorders, and there was a significant relationship between religious orientation and mental health (r=-0.589) and its subscales includes physical symptoms (r=- 0.605), anxiety (r=-0.587), social function (r=-0.484) and depression (r=-0.642) (p<0.001).Discussion & Results indicated a significant relationship between religious orientation and mental health in older people so that increasing and more internalization of religious orientation can be improved mental health. Given to the aging population and the importance of mental health in the older people more attention to the role of religious orientation in planning interventions for the aging population seems necessary.