Iranian Journal of Nursing and Midwifery Research1735-906623620181006411420ENStudent Research Committee, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, IranDepartment of Reproductive Health, School of Nursing and Midwifery,Shahroud University of Medical Sciences, Shahroud, Iran2018100620181006<p>Background: Among all mental health disorders in the general population, anxiety is the most  frequent. Both pharmacological and non‑pharmacological interventions are used to manage  anxiety in various settings. There is a growing interest among researchers on religion therapy as  a non‑pharmacological intervention for anxiety management. Hence, due to the importance of  Holy Quran in Muslims’ lives, this systematic review was performed to assess the studies that  evaluated the effect of Quran recitation on anxiety in various settings.</p><p>Materials and Methods:  This systematic review study was performed on articles published between January 1990 and  September 2017. Several online databases including SID, Iranmedex, Magiran, IranDoc, PubMed,  Scopus, and Google Scholar were searched with the keywords of “Quran,” “anxiety,” “clinical trial.”  The risk of bias across all included studies was assessed using the Cochrane Collaboration’s risk of  bias tool.</p><p>Results: Of the 973 articles found in the initial search, 28 randomized controlled trials  and quasi‑experiments were selected for the systematic review. In most studies, State‑Trait Anxiety  Inventory was used to measure participants’ anxiety. Findings of this review revealed a positive effect  of listening to Holy Quran recitation in reducing anxiety in various settings. Only one study had  reported that anxiety level in Holy Quran recitation group was less than that of the control group, but  it was not statistically significant.</p><p>Conclusions: Based on the available researches, Quran recitation  can be used as a useful non‑pharmacological treatment to reduce anxiety. However, methodologically  strong randomized controlled trials are needed in this area. </p>http://ijnmr.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijnmr/article/view/1573http://ijnmr.mui.ac.ir/index.php/ijnmr/article/download/1573/70707128