Correlation Between Spiritual Experiences and Self-care Behaviors in Students With Health Anxiety

Background and Objectives: Health anxiety is one of the crucial concerns of clinical specialists, as it increases the use of psychological, health and medical services. Therefore, the present study to investigate the correlation between spiritual experiences and self-care behaviors in students with health anxiety. Methods: The present descriptive-correlational was conducted on male and female students of Farhangian University of South Khorasan Province, Iran in the summer of 2023. A total of 320 individuals were selected a stratified sampling method (boys and girls). The data collection tools included the daily spiritual experience scale developed by Underwood and Tersi, the self-care scale by Javdan and the health anxiety inventory by Salkovskis et al. SPSS software, version 24 was used for data analysis, employing Pearson correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Results: The results showed a negative and significant relationship between spiritual experiences (r=-0.570, P 0.01) and self-care behaviors (r=-0.624, P 0.01) and health anxiety. The components of spiritual experiences explained 32.7% of the variance in health anxiety, while self-care behaviors explained 39% of the variance. Conclusion: The results showed the importance of strengthening spiritual experiences and self-care behaviors in the design and modification of interventions related to health anxiety within health system policies.