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Review
. 2021 Jun;60(3):2051-2065.
doi: 10.1007/s10943-020-01094-5. Epub 2020 Nov 3.

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

Suhad Daher-Nashif  1 , Suzanne H Hammad  2 , Tanya Kane  3 , Noor Al-Wattary  2
Affiliations
Review

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

Suhad Daher-Nashif et al. J Relig Health. 2021 Jun.

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.

Keywords: Caregiving; Dementia; Islam; Middle East; Older adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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