Introduction: Hemodialysis patients are often concerned about the unpredictable future of their illness and often develop emotional problems such as depression. New researches suggest that strong religious beliefs can bring positive psychological effects. This study is conducted to determine the relationship between resorting to pray and depression in hemodialysis patients admitted to Kamkar-Arabnia Hospital of Qom University of Medical Sciences.

Methods: In this cross sectional-analytical, single-group, single-phase study 200 hemodialysis patients were selected purposively in dialysis unit of Kamkar-Arabnia hospital affiliated to Qom University of Medical Sciences. After obtaining written consent, data was collected by prayer Meraviglia frequency questionnaire, consisting of four parts demographic characteristics, prayer frequency, past experience of praying and attitude towards praying, and also beck depression questionnaire. Data was analyzed with Pearson test.

Results: Patients' mean score of depression and resorting to prayer was 22.27±9.64 (range of 0 to 63) and 174.81±21.67 (range of 32 to 224) respectively. There was a significant indirect relationship between prayer frequency (r = -0.30, p = 0.0001) and resorting to prayer (r = -0.15, p = 0.02) with patients' depression.

Conclusions: By increasing the resort to prayer, depression was decreased in hemodialysis patients. So religious beliefs can be used to improve hemodialysis patients’ health.