ABSTRACT
Mirthfulness is a new psychological concept which has been less taken into consideration so far. The studies and carried out researches about joyance and mirthfulness are too less than those about depression, anxiety and other similar phenomena. The aim of this research was to study the amount of mirthfulness of the students of Lorestan university of medical sciences and its relation with self-reliance. In this cross-sectional study 150 day students were selected using systematic random sampling. To carry out the research two measurement instruments of mirthfulness and self-reliance rate were used. The questionnaire used for mirthfulness, is the short from of Mirthfulness Scale which has been made by Oxford university psychologists in 1989. To measure self-reliance, a questionnaire including 25 questions with two choices of Yes, No, was used. Gathered data were analyzed using SPSS software. Data analysis showed that 19.3% of the students had a low amount of mirthfulness. The amount of mirthfulness of 62% of them was acceptable and 18.7% had a good amount of mirthfulness. From view point of self-reliance 29.33% of the students had a low self-reliance, 58% had a fair self-reliance and only 12.67% had a good and high selfreliance. Between the amount of mirthfulness in terms of field of study there was no significant difference; but between self-reliance in terms of field of study there was a significant difference [P<0.01], There was no significant difference between self-reliance in terms of sex, but between the amount of mirthfulness and sex there was a significant difference [P<0.02]. Between the amount of mirthfulness and self-reliance there was a significant correlation [r=0.58]. Regarding the obtained performing preventive and treating programs in order to health promote the amount of mirthfulness among students can lead to improve the level of mental and consequently to promote students' study performance