Predicting General Health and Spiritual Well-being Based on Metacognitive Beliefs in Iranian Police Forces: Mediating Role of Cognitive Emotion Regulation

Objectives Various factors can have a role in predicting police forces’ mental and spiritual health. This study aims to assess whether the general health and spiritual well-being of police forces in Iran can be predicted by metacognitive beliefs with the mediation of cognitive emotion regulation (CER) strategies. Methods This is descriptive/correlational study using structural equation modeling (SEM). The study population includes all the employees of the Tehran Police Commands in 2023. Participants were 294 employees of the police headquarters in Tehran, Iran, in 2023, who were selected using a convenience sampling method. Spiritual well-being scale (SWBS), general health questionnaire (GHQ), metacognition questionnaire (MCQ), and cognitive emotion regulation strategies questionnaire (CERQ) were used to collect data. SPSS v.22 and Amos v.24 were used for data analysis. Results Based on the fit indices, the fit of the initial SEM model was not acceptable (RMSEA=0.07, CFI=0.88, GFI=0.87), because the path between metacognitive beliefs and spiritual well-being was not significant (P>0.05). After removing this path, the model’s fit was acceptable (RMSEA=0.06, CFI=0.90, GFI=0.91). The direct and indirect paths between metacognitive beliefs and general health were significant (P<0.01). Also, the indirect path between metacognitive beliefs and spiritual well-being through CER strategies was significant (P<0.01). Conclusion The metacognitive beliefs in Iranian police forces can significantly predict their general health and spiritual well-being directly or indirectly through CER strategies.