The Relationship between Spiritual Well-Being and Depression in Nursing Students

Depression is the fourth leading cause of community disability in the world and it has high prevalence among students. Since spirituality is positively associated to physical and mental health, this study aimed to determine the relationship of spiritual well-being and depression among nursing students in Qom and Kashan Universities of Medical Sciences.
This cross-sectional study was conducted on nursing students of Kashan and Qom Universities of Medical Sciences. Using a two-stage sampling method, 250 nursing students were randomly selected. Data were collected by Beck’s Depression questionnaire, and Paloutzian and Ellison’s spiritual well-being questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 11.5. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent samples t-test and ANOVA were used.
The mean total score on the spiritual well-being of students was 71.62 ± 9.09. The mean depression score of the students was 32.40 ± 9.93. Overall, 14.04% of the students had mild depression, 97.6% had a moderate spiritual well-being. Pearson correlation coefficient showed no significant association between the scores of spiritual well-being and depression (P No significant relationship was found between spiritual well-being and depression in nursing students. Most of the students had a moderate spiritual well-being. Educational authorities should pay more attention to the students’ spiritual well-being.