ABSTRACT
Previous researches have focused on the association between coping with stressful situations and other variables such as depression, health, religion, social support, and employment. In this regard, spirituality is the variable which has received less attention. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of spirituality on the coping strategies used in stressful situations. In this descriptive- correlation study, 384 students of Islamic Azad University, Tehran Medical Branch, were selected by convenient sampling. The first tool consisted of a questionnaire on coping with stressful situations, which divides the sample regarding problem-oriented, emotion -focused, and avoidance coping strategies. The second was a spirituality questionnaire or SAI, including six subscales: God awareness, real acceptance, hopelessness, magnification, instability, and perception management. Significant positive correlation was observed between spirituality growth and focused coping strategies with the increase of spiritual growth, oriented coping with stressful situations increases. This study showed a significant relationship between growth and spiritual dimensions of coping with stressful situations. This means that spiritual growth is one of the most important predictors that the students use to deal with stressful situations