Exploring Six Muslim Teachers’ Coping Strategies in Overcoming Mental Illness
This qualitative research explored Malaysian Muslim teachers’ perspectives of mental illness and well-being with an aim to understand how they coped with their own condition of illness and the relationship between spiritual practices and mental health. Six public school teachers served as intervi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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2018
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| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/79074/ http://irep.iium.edu.my/79074/1/IJES%202018%20Coping%20Strageies%20AHAK.pdf |
| Summary: | This qualitative research explored Malaysian Muslim teachers’ perspectives of mental illness
and well-being with an aim to understand how they coped with their own condition of illness
and the relationship between spiritual practices and mental health. Six public school teachers
served as interview participants, all of whom had experienced a mental breakdown at some
point in their career. Using a semi-structured protocol, the teachers were interviewed
individually at different times and settings. An inductive content analysis was used to interpret
the data for all participants. The findings showed four themes, namely medical treatment,
religion, family and societal support, and positivity to be the dominant factors of coping. Four
subthemes emerged from religious coping, i.e., prayers, Qur’an reading, protective factor, and
diseases of the heart. These subthemes suggested an association between spiritual practices and
mental well-being. Apart from seeking professional help and getting appropriate medical
treatment, the study also revealed the importance of engaging in various spiritual practices such
as performing the five daily prayers, zikr, salawat shifa', and reading the Qur'an, strategies that
produced the feelings of peace and calmness in the participants which were instrumental in
helping them cope with their illness and become productive teachers. |
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