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The growing prevalence of drug use among university students presents a significant public health challenge, adversely affecting their academic performance, mental well-being, and professional roles. Professional identity and spiritual intelligence are key factors that may influence susceptibility to substance use. Investigating these constructs can provide valuable insights into the mechanisms behind drug addiction. Such insights are crucial for developing effective prevention strategies in academic environments. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between professional identity,spiritual intelligence and the prevalence of drug addiction among students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences. The present study is a descriptive, analytical, correlational investigation. The statistical population included undergraduate medical students at Birjand University of Medical Sciences during the 2021-2022 academic year, with a sample size of 170 participants. After obtaining informed consent, participants completed the following measures: the King's Spiritual Intelligence Scale, the Jim Crossley Doctors' Professional Identity Questionnaire, and the Drug Orientation Questionnaire, along with a demographic information form. Data analysis was performed using SPSS software version 22, applying descriptive statistics (measure of central tendency and dispersion) as well as inferential statistical tests, including Spearman’s correlation, the Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test. The study revealed mean scores of 25.71±1.46 for professional identity, 36.09±6.62 for spiritual intelligence, and 39.71±3.66 for drug addiction. The results demonstrated no statistically significant correlation between spiritual intelligence and drug addiction (P<0.05). However, professional identity showed a significant negative correlation with drug addiction severity (P=0.02) with a correlation coefficient of -0.6. This inverse relationship indicates that higher level of professional identity are associated with lower degrees of drug addiction. These findings suggest that a strong professional identity among medical students reduce their susceptibility to drug use. Consequently, medical education curricula should prioritize on the development of professional identity. Although the study did not find a significant association between spiritual intelligence and drug addiction, the observed negative correlation highlights the potential value of incorporating spiritual intelligence development, particularly within medical ethics education, as a preventive strategy.

Keywords: Professional identity, Spiritual Intelligence, Drug Addiction, Medical Student

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