The impact of health literacy, sense of purpose, and self-compassion on the quality of life of students at the Islamic Azad University branches in Tehran
Social Determinants of Health,
Vol. 11 (2025),
1 January 2025
,
Page 1-13
https://doi.org/10.22037/sdh.v11i1.47375
Abstract
Background: The current investigation set out to investigate the effects of compassion for oneself, sense of mission, and health knowledge on the standard of life of students at the Tehran campuses of Islamic Azad University.
Method: The present research used a correlational and descriptive approach. All master's and doctorate students in humanities fields (literature, history, philosophy, and sociology) enrolled in the Islamic Azad University branches in Tehran during the 2024–2025 academic year, totaling over 50,000 students, made up the estimated population. The World Health Organization Quality of Life questionnaire, the Ryff goal in life scale, the Neff self-compassion scale, and the Montazeri et al. health awareness questionnaire were among the instruments used for gathering the data. Following the completion of the surveys, structural equation modeling tests and SPSS-24 and Smart-PLS software were used to evaluate the data.
Results: The findings showed that students' quality of life is substantially enhanced by health knowledge, compassion for oneself, and a sense of purpose. In particular, students' quality of life was higher when they had greater levels of compassion for oneself, goals, and health awareness.
Conclusion: Enhancing these variables among students can contribute to improving their quality of life, and these variables have a major impact in enhancing the quality of life of students.
- Health Literacy
- Quality of Life
- Self-Compassion
- Tehran
How to Cite
References
- Azizi M, Hassanabadi H, Mehram B, Saeedi M. Investigating the effectiveness of group therapy based on acceptance and commitment ACT on improving the quality of life of addicts, Second National Conference on Research and Treatment in Clinical Psychology, Torbat Jam, Islamic Azad University, Torbat Jam Branch;2014.
- Goto E, Ishikawa H, Okuhara T, Kiuchi T. Relationship of health literacy with utilization of health-care services in a general Japanese population. Preventive Medicine Reports. 2019;14(1):100811-19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2019.01.015
- Hayati S. The Relationship between Religiosity and Islamic Lifestyle Orientation with Students' Quality of Life (Case Study: Shahid Madani University of Azerbaijan), Pazhoohesh va Andisheh. 2022;18(59):129-153. https://doi.org/10.22034/init.2021.96241
- Van Rooij ECM, Jansen EPWA, Van De Grift WJCM. First-year university students’ academic success: The importance of academic adjustment: Correction. European Journal of Psychology of Education. 2018;33(4):769-778. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-017-0364-7
- Extremera N, Sánchez-Álvarez N, Rey L. Pathways between ability emotional intelligence and subjective well-being: Bridging links through cognitive emotion regulation strategies. Sustainability. 2020;12(5):2111-2124. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12052111
- Khaleghi M, Amin Shokravi F, Peyman N. The Relationship Between Health Literacy and Health-Related Quality of Life in Students. Iranian Journal of Health Education and Health Promotion. 2019;7(1):66-73. http://journal.ihepsa.ir/article-1-705-fa.html
- Rootman I, Gordon-El-Bihbety D. A vision for a health literate Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Public Health Association;2008. https://search.worldcat.org/title/vision-for-a-health-literate-canada-report-of-the-expert-panel-on-health-literacy/oclc/319855783
- Karimi N, Saadat Gharin S, Tol A, Sadeghi R, Yaseri M, Mohebbi B. Role of Health Literacy and Demographic Variables in Determining Health-Promoting Behaviors Among High School Female Students in the City of Tehran, Iran. Journal of School of Public Health and Institute of Public Health Research. 2019;17(3):212-228. http://sjsph.tums.ac.ir/article-1-5790-fa.html
- Mirdavood SM, Dortaj F, Sheivandi Chelicheh K, Lotfi Azimi A. Developing and Validating the Educational Package of Wisdom and Its Effectiveness on Self-compassion and Psychological Well-being of Students. Iranian Journal of Learning and Memory;2024. https://doi.org/10.22034/iepa.2024.428677.1460
- Smith SK, Nutbeam D, McCaffery KJ. Insights into the concept and measurement of health literacy from a study of shared decision-making in a low literacy population. Journal of health psychology. 2013;18(8):1011-1022. https://doi.org/10.1177/1359105312468192
- Baker DW, Gazmararian JA, Sudano J, Patterson M. The association between age and health literacy among elderly persons. The Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences. 2000;55(6):368-74. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/55.6.S368
- Haun JN, Patel NR, French DD, Campbell RR, Bradham DD, Lapcevic WA. Association between health literacy and medical care costs in an integrated healthcare system: a regional population based study. BMC health services research. 2015;15(1):249-261. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-015-0887-z
- Wang C, Li H, Li L, Xu D, Kane RL, Meng Q. Health literacy and ethnic disparities in health-related quality of life among rural women: results from a Chinese poor minority area. Health and quality of life outcomes. 2013;11(1):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/1477-7525-11-153
- Vleioras G, Bosma HA. Predicting change in relational identity commitments: exploration and emotions. Identity. 2005;5(1):35-56. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532706xid0501_3
- Burrow AL, Hill PL. Purpose as a form of identity capital for positive youth adjustment. Developmental psychology. 2011;47(4):1196-1206. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023818
- Steger MF, Frazier P, Oishi S, Kaler M. The meaning in life questionnaire: assessing the presence of and search for meaning in life. Journal of counseling psychology. 2006;53(1):80-93. https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/2006-00626-008
- Grevenstein D, Aguilar-Raab C, Schweitzer J, Bluemke M. Through the tunnel, to the light: Why sense of coherence covers and exceeds resilience, optimism, and self-compassion. Personality and Individual Differences. 2016;98(1):208-217. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.001
- Raphael D, Bryant T, Mikkonen J, Alexander R. Social determinants of health: The Canadian facts. Ontario Tech University Faculty of Health Sciences;2020. https://nccdh.ca/resources/entry/social-determinants-of-health-the-canadian-facts-second-edition
- Barnard LK, Curry JF. Self-compassion: Conceptualizations, correlates & interventions. Review of general psychology. 2011;15(4):289-303. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025754
- MacBeth A, Gumley A. Exploring compassion: A meta-analysis of the association between self-compassion and psychopathology. Clinical psychology review. 2012;32(6):545-452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.06.003
- Siedlecki KL, Tucker-Drob EM, Oishi S, Salthouse TA. Life satisfaction across adulthood: Different determinants at different ages?. The Journal of Positive Psychology. 2008;3(3):153-164. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760701834602
- Shojaei SH, Kalantari M, Rezaee M, Akbarzadeh Baghban A. Relationship Between Work-Life Balance and Quality of Life in Dormitory and Non-Dormitory Students of Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. The Scientific Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine. 2022;11(1):40-51. https://doi.org/10.32598/SJRM.11.1.4
- Montazeri A, Tavousi M, Rakhshani F, Azin SA, Jahangiri K, Ebadi M, Naderimagham S, Solimanian A, Sarbandi F, Motamedi A, Sistani MM. Health Literacy for Iranian Adults (HELIA): development and psychometric properties. Payesh (Health Monitor). 2014;13(5):589-599. http://payeshjournal.ir/article-1-279-fa.html
- Neff KD. Self‐compassion, self‐esteem, and well‐being. Social and personality psychology compass. 2011;5(1):1-2. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00330.x
- Ryff CD, Keyes CL. The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of personality and social psychology. 1995;69(4):719-727. https://psycnet.apa.org/buy/1996-08070-001
- Assadi Gandomani R, Nesayan A, Faridi R. Effect of Positive Parenting Training in Mothers of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity on Reducing Symptoms of ADHD. Journal of Disability Studies. 2017;7(1):90-96. http://jdisabilstud.org/article-1-658-en.html
- Khosravi S, Sadeghi M, Yabandeh M. Psychometric Properties of Self-Compassion Scale (SCS). Psychological Models and Methods. 2013;4(13):47-59. https://jpmm.marvdasht.iau.ir/article_339.html?lang=en
- Tabe Bordbar F, Esmaeili M, Sadat Shafiei F. Investigating the prediction of students' quality of life based on health-promoting lifestyle and health literacy, Fourth International Conference on Research in Psychology, Counseling and Educational Sciences, Tehran;2019.
- Sørensen K, Van den Broucke S, Fullam J, Doyle G, Pelikan J, Slonska Z, Brand H, (HLS-EU) Consortium Health Literacy Project European. Health literacy and public health: a systematic review and integration of definitions and models. BMC public health. 2012;12(1):1-3. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-12-80
- Khodaparast S, Bakhshalipour V, Motlaghzadeh S. Investigating the correlation between social health and general health with quality of life indicators of inactive elderly. Journal of Gerontology. 2022;7(1):17-28. http://joge.ir/article-1-539-fa.html
- Majidi S, Kaveh Maryan S, Esmaeilpour_Bandboni M. The Relationship between Health Literacy and Quality of Life of the Elderly Living in Nursing Homes in Guilan Province in 2020. Journal of Nursing Education. 2021;10(5):78-85. http://jne.ir/article-1-1303-fa.html
- Dadfar J, Hazrati M, Rezaei Dizgah M. The effect of the mentoring model on improving the quality of life, mental health and training skills of newly-recruited teachers. Soc Determinants Health. 2024;10(1):1-9. https://journals.sbmu.ac.ir/sdh/article/view/45801
- Fadaiyan Arani E, Amin Shokravi F, Tavakoli Ghouchani H. The Relationship between Health Literacy and Nutrition Behaviors in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. North Khorasan University of Medical Sciences. 2018;9(4):49-55. http://journal.nkums.ac.ir/article-1-1313-en.html
- Kickbusch I, Pelikan J, Apfel F, Tsouros A. Health Literacy: The Solid Facts. WHO Regional Office for Europe, Copenhagen;2013. https://www.scirp.org/reference/referencespapers?referenceid=2299843
- Abbasi M, Adavi H, Hojati M. Relationship between religious beliefs and psychological health through purposefulness intermediation in life and aging perception in retired teachers. Aging psychology. 2016;2(3):195-204. https://jap.razi.ac.ir/article_624_en.html?lang=en
- Fathi L, Bakhtiarpour S, Mahdad A. The Correlation of Self-Compassion and Benefits of Empathy with Academic Well-Being in High School Students: The Mediating Role of Academic Buoyancy. International Journal of School Health. 2024;11(2):87-99. https://doi.org/10.30476/INTJSH.2024.101206.1373
- Newman DB, Schwarz N, Stone AA. Global reports of well-being overestimate aggregated daily states of well-being. The Journal of Positive Psychology. 2021;16(3):407-416. https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2020.1725608
- Abstract Viewed: 62 times
- PDF Downloaded: 32 times