Islam and Mental Disorders of the Older Adults: Religious Text, Belief System and Caregiving Practices

Daher-Nashif, Suhad; Hammad, Suzanne H.; Kane, Tanya; Al-Wattary, Noor

Abstract

This paper illustrates the impact of Islamic religious texts on dementia care in the Middle East. It examines how old age and older adults mental disorders are framed in the Quran and Hadith, and how these texts are transformed to belief ideologies and caregiving practices. The study uses a qualitative research methods, which include a review of all Islamic holy texts that address mental and cognitive changes associated with ageing, along with interviews with eight Sharia scholars and 37-Arab-Muslim families living in Qatar. Islamic texts command compassion and honouring of elderly parents and give care instructions. These texts are transformed into social practices and used as diagnostic and treatment tools.

Citation

Daher-Nashif, S., Hammad, S. H., Kane, T., & Al-Wattary, N. (2021). Islam and Mental Disorders of the Older Adults: Religious Text, Belief System and Caregiving Practices. Journal of Religion and Health, 60(3), 2051-2065. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01094-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Sep 23, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Nov 3, 2020
• Publication Date: 2021-06
• Deposit Date: Jun 19, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Religion and Health
• Print ISSN: 0022-4197
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-6571
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 2051-2065
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-020-01094-5
• Keywords: Religious studies; General Medicine; General Nursing
• Additional Information: Accepted: 23 September 2020; First Online: 3 November 2020; : ; : The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.; : All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Qatar University Institutional Review Board + QU-IRB 925-EA/18 + 974 44035307) and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.; : Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.