[Effect of Ramadan fasting on mental health of nursing students in Jiroft nursing college]

ABSTRACT

Mental disorders are one of the common worldwide problems and it has been reported that they have an increasing growth in Iran. Many studies have been reported the beneficial somatic and mental effects of Ramadan fasting on human. This research was natural experience study which was carried out to determine the effect of Ramadan fasting on mental health of 115 students of Jiroft nursing school. Data were collected by a demographic questionnaire and a 12-item mental health scale. The questioner and scale were completed by students in one week before and after the Ramadan month, respectively. The data of mental health scores were reported as Mean +/- SEM and analyzed by Paired and group t-test. The results showed that mental health of students were increased after fasting compared with before Ramadan month [p<0/000]. Furthermore, mental health of male students were more than female students in both before [p<0.001] and after [p<0.01] Ramadan fasting. Based on the results, Ramadan fasting may improve mental health of students. Further investigations such as case-control studies are needed to determine the exact effect of Ramadan fasting on mental health