the relationship between selehye rahem and health status of the elderly in the city of qom, 2012

Background and objectives: seleye rahem is a social behaviour that promotes social spirit, improves life expectancy and physical and mental health. selehye rahem means maintaining supporting and friendly relationships with onersquo;s physical arham (family members and relatives) and spiritual arham (consisting of the prophet, the infallible imams, religious scholars and imams descendants or sadat). the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between selehye rahem and health status of the elderly. methods: in this descriptive correlational study 300 elderly were selected with cluster random sampling from the city of qom in 2012. selfdesigned physical and spiritual selehye rahem and health status of the elderly questionnaire were used. data was analyzed using spss version 18, descriptive statistics, and multiple stepwise regression and pearson tests. results: the overall health status of older people has a significant relationship with selehye rahem with family members (r=0.328) and prophet and infallible imams (r= 0.323, p<0.05), but there is no significant relationship between their health status and selehye rahem with kinsfolk,friends, religious scholar and imams descendants (sadat). multiple regression test showed that 41.7% of the elderly health status change was related to their life condition,age,selehye rahem with family members,selehye rahem with the prophet and the infallible imams and their economic condition (p<0.001). conclusion: the elderly that receiving more support from selehye rahem with family members and the prophet and the infallible imams had better health status. nurses can have a role in improving health of the elderly through supporting and reinforcing familial and social relationships.there is room for studies that would identify and address the underlying reasons people are forgetting about selehye rahem and it plays important role in different aspects of ones life especially health.