The relationship between the attitude toward islamic covering and mental health among the female students of Bushehr university of medical sciences

Background: Mental health as an important part of overall health can be affected by various factors. It seems that Islamic covering associates with an individual’s overall health and affects mental health and wellbeing. This study was performed to evaluate the relationship between the attitude toward Islamic covering and mental health in female students of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. Material and methods: This was a descriptive correlation study conducted on 225 female students selected by stratified sampling from different schools of Bushehr University of Medical Sciences. The attitude toward Islamic covering and mental status of students were measured by the means of a researcher-made and GHQ28 questionnaire and correlated afterwards. In order to analyze the data, SPSS17 was used and descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, t-test, and X2 test were employed. Results: The results showed that 19.55% of the students had a positive attitude towards having Islamic covering, 23.12% were against it, and 57.33% remained neutral. Among the participants, 55.6% had good mental health, and 44.4% were in unhealthy conditions. It was also revealed that a significant relationship existed between the attitude toward Islamic covering and all the aspects of mental health among the students (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Considering the significant relationship between the attitude toward Islamic covering and all the aspects of mental health, we suggest that the university should pay more attention to the students covering and enhance their attitude toward it in order to prevent and reduce social vulnerability, particularly a mental one.