Muslims and Mental Health Services: A Concept Map and a Theoretical Framework

Abstract

Muslim populations in Western countries are growing, and they face biopsychosocial, spiritual, and economic challenges. Although Islam gives utmost attention to mental health stability, Muslims tend to underutilize mental health services. Mental health professionals, whether they be researchers, practitioners, or trainers working in schools, colleges/universities, mental health agencies, and research institutions, are well positioned to serve Muslims. Mental health professionals can address Muslims' biopsychosocial and spiritual issues and enhance their quality of life. In the current study, as the authors, we (a) reviewed 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts on Muslim mental health to understand how researchers have used concept maps or theoretical frameworks to design their empirical research, (b) prepared a comprehensive concept map based on the literature review to determine the central concepts affecting Muslims' approach to the use of mental health services, and (c) proposed a contextual theoretical (conceptual) framework. We titled the framework as Muslims' approach to use of mental health services based on the Theory of Planned Behavior and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TPB/TRA) in the context of a Social Ecological Model (SEM). We drew the framework based on TPB/TRA, SEM, and the review of Muslim mental health literature (the concept map). The concept map and the framework provide the most important constructs about challenges Muslim's face when attempting to utilize mental health services. Future researchers can use the concept map and the framework to conduct theoretically and evidence-based grounded empirical research.

Using Online Photovoice (OPV) to Understand Youths’ Perceptions of Distance Education during COVID-19

“…COVID-19 has affected almost all the world college students and their education (Gewin, 2020;Goyal, 2020;Lau et al, 2020;Tanhan et al, 2021;UNESCO, 2020). Physical closure of educational institutions has been an effective way to reduce the spread of the virus but has also created difficulties for students, educators, families, and employers (Aslam, 2020;Owusu-Fordjour et al, 2020;Tanhan, 2020).…”

“…Researchers highly stressed using theoretical framework for more effective studies and also use of contextually sensitive approaches (Tanhan & Young, 2021). Ecological Systems Theory (EST; Bronfenbrenner, 1979Bronfenbrenner, , 1989Bronfenbrenner & Evans, 2000;Tanhan, 2019Tanhan, , 2020, Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) and Online Photovoice (OPV) constitute the theoretical framework of the research.…”

“…Active advocacy is an important concept that constitutes the infrastructure of the study, CBPR, and OPV. Many researchers used EST in different disciplines (Karabulut Demir, 2007;Harnett, 2009;Coşkuner, 2013;Varicier, 2019;Tanhan, 2019Tanhan, , 2020Tanhan & Francisco, 2019;Tanhan & Strack, 2020;Tanhan & Young, 2021). And many other researchers called to use CBPR (Tanhan, 2020;Tanhan & Strack, 2020).…”

Exploring College Students’ Biopsychosocial Spiritual Wellbeing and Problems during COVID-19 through a Contextual and Comprehensive Framework

“…Bronfenbrenner described the four main systems that include microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem which interact to create an individual’s dynamic daily contexts. According to the model, the individual is at the center and other systems are nested around them, constantly affecting the individuals as the individual impacts these systems (Tanhan, 2019 ; Tanhan & Young, 2021b ). Given the size and scope of the various ecological systems at play, systems are much more impactful on the individual than the inverse (Tanhan & Francisco, 2019 ).…”

“…Given the size and scope of the various ecological systems at play, systems are much more impactful on the individual than the inverse (Tanhan & Francisco, 2019 ). Many researchers from various disciplines have utilized EST in conducting research, developing and implementing effective services (Arslan & Tanhan, 2019 , 2019 ; Arslan et al, 2020 ; Çiçek et al, 2020 , 2021 ; Doyumğaç et al, 2021 ; Tanhan, 2020 ; Tanhan & Strack, 2020 ; Tanhan & Young, 2021a , 2021b ). All these research series indicate that a contextual approach to understand and address mental health issues and wellbeing is necessary compared to choosing and using an already established questionnaire from an acontextual perspective.…”