A Study of the Relationship of Outlook and Practical Pledge to Prayers and Spiritual Experiences with Mental Health of Girl Students of University of Tehran

The implementation of religious orders and practices is one of the ways to save and relieve people from troubles, discomforts and stresses. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship of outlook and practical pledge to prayer and spiritual experiences with mental health of girl students of University of Tehran.

The present study is descriptive correlational. The statistical population included all female students of University of Tehran and the sample population consisted of 150 participants selected by random cluster sampling. The instruments used for data collection included practical attitude and practice of prayer questionnaire, daily spiritual experiences and general health of Goldberg GHQ-28. For data analysis, Pearson correlation and simultaneous regression were used. In this study, all the ethical considerations have been observed and no conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

The results showed that prayer's effectiveness in individual and social life with an r value of -0.251, attention and practice to the needy with an r value of -0.507, commitment and serious efforts to perform prayers with a value of -0.373, care and presence of the heart in prayer with the value of -0/251 and the total score of practical commitment to prayer with a value of -0/401 had a negative and inverse relationship with mental health (P<0/05). Also, the sense of presence of God with the value of -0/498, the relationship with God with the value of -/0325, the sense of responsibility towards others with the value of -0/259 and spiritual experiences with the value of -/0474 was negatively and inversely correlated with mental health significant (P<0/05). In other words, there was a significant and negative correlation between the components of spiritual experiences and mental health.

Practical commitment to prayers plays an essential role in individuals’ mental health and well-being. Also, religion has a mental health supportive function. Spiritual experiences contribute to prevention of mental illnesses and facilitate the management of illnesses as well as the recovery process.