Assessment of Mental and Spiritual Health Among Iranian Dental Students: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: To investigate the relationship between mental health and spiritual well-being among general and post-graduate dental students. Material and Methods: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive-analytical study conducted on 268 general and post-graduate dental students. Data collection tools included the Mental Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28: General Health Questionnaire) and the Spiritual Health Questionnaire. The data were analyzed by the SPSS version 25 using Independent Samples t-test, One-way ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, Multiple linear regression with a significant level at 0.05. Results: The total score of the Spiritual Health Questionnaire was 71.48 ± 0.507 and the Mental Health Questionnaire was 40.31±0.65. There was a significant difference in the spiritual health status between the general and post-graduate students (p=0.009). Overall, there was a significant positive relationship between the students' spiritual health and mental health (p=0.045), although a significant relationship was evident between mental health and age of the students (p=0.019). Conclusion: The spiritual health was high in the dental students and Kerman University of medical sciences residents. Also, there was a positive significant relationship between spiritual and mental health