Purpose: Paying attention to the mental health of nursing students can have a positive effect on their motivation to perform their assigned duties. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the role of rumination and forgiveness in the mental health of nursing students.
Materials and Methods: The present study was descriptive-correlational. The research population included all nursing students of Azad University of Birjand in the academic year of 2022-2023. Based on Morgan's table, 225 people were selected by stratified random sampling; they responded to the Nolen-Hoeksema & Morrow (1991) Rumble Questionnaire,Thompson et al. (2005) and the Goldberg Mental Health Questionnaire (1972). Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 22 and Pearson correlation test and multiple regressions.
Results: The results showed that the correlation between rumination (r = 0.535) with mental health was positive and significant, but the correlation between forgiveness (r = -0.552) with mental health was negative and significant (P <0.01), the results also showed that spiritual intelligence (28.5%) and distress tolerance (36.6%) predict the variance of  mental health in nursing students.
Conclusion: According to the results, by reducing rumination and increasing forgiveness and its dimensions, the mental health of nursing students can be improved; therefore, it seems necessary to pay more attention to the role of rumination and forgiveness in the educational programs of nursing students.