In Indonesia, culturally grounded gerontological counseling frameworks rooted in Islamic intellectual traditions remain relatively underexamined despite growing scholarly attention to spirituality and aging. This study examines counseling practices for elderly individuals within Islamic institutional settings and interprets these practices through Al-Ghazali’s moral psychology to develop a Ghazalian-informed psychospiritual framework for elderly well-being. A qualitative multi-site interpretive case study was conducted across two Islamic elderly care institutions in East Java, Indonesia, involving 23 participants, including elderly residents, caregivers, and institutional staff. Data were collected through observations, interviews, field notes, and institutional documents, and analyzed using thematic analysis with iterative coding and cross-site comparison. The findings indicate that counseling practices within both institutions support emotional adaptation, spiritual reflection, moral guidance, and communal connectedness among elderly participants. These practices are not structured as formal clinical psychotherapy but are embedded within devotional routines and collective religious environments. Based on these empirical patterns, the study interprets the findings through a Ghazalian perspective and proposes a psychospiritual framework comprising interrelated domains of spiritual meaning-making, affective regulation, moral cultivation, and communal engagement. By situating these findings within Islamic moral anthropology, this study contributes a culturally grounded perspective to discussions on spirituality, aging, and Islamic counseling while recognizing the complementary role of spiritual care alongside professional mental health services.
Adolescents’ social-emotional functioning is closely linked to how they manage academic and interpersonal demands in school settings. However, limited evidence exists on how emotional awareness and friendship quality are simultaneously associated with problem-solving skills among Muslim high school students. This study examines the associations among emotional awareness, friendship quality, and problem-solving skills in adolescents. A quantitative cross-sectional correlational design was employed using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). A total of 186 high school students aged 15–18 years in Yogyakarta, Indonesia participated in the study. Emotional awareness-related regulation, friendship quality, and problem-solving skills were measured using validated self-report instruments. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted prior to SEM analysis using AMOS version 20. The findings indicated that emotional awareness and friendship quality were significantly associated with adolescents’ problem-solving skills. These findings suggest significant associations between emotional awareness, friendship quality, and problem-solving skills in adolescents. The results are based on cross-sectional data and should not be interpreted as causal relationships.
This study investigated Differentiated Digital Scaffolding (DDS) as an individualized support framework for improving engagement, participation, learning independence, and English vocabulary performance among students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The study used a mixed-method single-subject A–B–A design involving five primary school students with ASD, consisting of three verbal and two minimally verbal students enrolled at an inclusive elementary school in Central Java, Indonesia. Quantitative data were collected through the Engagement and Behavior Observation Checklist, DDS Observation Sheet, Vocabulary Probe Test, response latency records, and prompt-level records. Qualitative data were obtained from classroom observations and teacher interviews. The results showed that on-task behavior among verbal students increased from 50–70% during baseline to 85–95% during the intervention. On-task behavior among minimally verbal students increased from 40–60% to 70–80%. Off-task behavior decreased from 3–8 to 1–2 episodes among verbal students and from 6–11 to 1–3 episodes among minimally verbal students. All participants also demonstrated vocabulary gains of 3–8 correct responses. Verbal students mainly responded through spoken labeling, while minimally verbal students responded through pointing, matching, and visual selection. The findings indicate that DDS supported more stable engagement, reduced prompt dependence, and increased participation through individualized verbal, visual, gestural, technical, and behavioral scaffolding.
Mental health among university students is a growing global concern, yet studies on Muslim students in Indonesia have rarely examined how social and motivational factors jointly shape positive psychological outcomes, with most research relying on deficit-oriented instruments. This study examined whether academic grit mediates the effect of family support on the mental health of Muslim university students in Indonesia. Data were collected from 537 Muslim university students in Pontianak and Yogyakarta using three validated instruments: the Family Support Scale (FSS; 20 items), the Academic Grit Scale (AGS; 10 items), and the Indonesian version of the Arabic Scale of Mental Health (ASMH; 36 items), all using a four-point Likert format. Data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 4. Family support was positively associated with both academic grit (β = 0.371, T = 8.675) and mental health (β = 0.453, T = 11.057). Academic grit was also positively associated with mental health (β = 0.227, T = 5.743), and together the two constructs accounted for 33.3% of the variance in mental health outcomes. Bootstrapping analysis indicated a statistically significant indirect association between family support and mental health through academic grit (β = 0.084, 95% CI: 0.049 to 0.125), although the magnitude of this indirect pathway was limited relative to the direct association (Variance Accounted For = 15.64%). These findings suggest that, within this cross-sectional design, family support is associated with student wellbeing primarily through a direct pathway, with academic grit representing an additional but comparatively modest statistical mechanism. The results tentatively support the integration of family-inclusive counselling approaches and grit-focused developmental programmes in higher education institutions serving Muslim student populations.
Social work students face high academic and emotional demands, requiring culturally responsive psychological support. This pilot study evaluated an Islamic-integrated personal growth group intervention to foster self-compassion among Muslim social work students in Thailand's southern border provinces. A randomized, two-group, pre-test/post-test trial with an embedded qualitative component and a three-month follow-up was conducted with a small sample (N = 24; 12 interventions, 12 controls); participants were purposively screened against inclusion criteria and randomly assigned to conditions. Baseline equivalence was confirmed across all three self-compassion subscales (all p > .05). Self-compassion was assessed using the Self-Compassion Scale; qualitative data were collected from the intervention group during sessions and at follow-up through audio-recorded observations and open-ended questions and analyzed thematically following Braun and Clarke's (2006) framework. The intervention group showed a significant increase in self-compassion from pre- to post-test, and post-test scores were significantly higher than the control group on the composite score and all three subscales. However, three-month follow-up scores were significantly lower than post-test and no longer different from baseline, indicating the gains were not durably sustained. Thematic analysis showed participants drew on Islamic practices, such as Dhikr and Qadar, to interpret their emotional changes. Given the small sample and non-sustained follow-up effect, these findings should be read as preliminary evidence of short-term feasibility rather than durable effectiveness; larger trials with booster sessions or continued peer support are needed before firmer conclusions can be drawn.
Research on adolescent identity has largely focused on developmental processes, while the content or domains of personal identity that are salient among adolescents within specific cultural contexts have not been systematically mapped. This gap is important because historically used domain lists may not be relevant for certain populations, including adolescents in Indonesia. This study aims to map the personal identity domains that are most frequently thought about (salience) and most clearly understood (clarity) among adolescents in Indonesia. Participants consisted of 454 adolescents aged 10-18 years (M = 14.49, SD = 2.51) in Indonesia. Data were collected using the Personal Identity Domain Questionnaire, which measures salience and clarity across 30 identity domains. The results indicate that religious beliefs and purpose in life appear among the domains with the highest mean levels of salience and clarity among Indonesian adolescents. This pattern suggests that some domains appear more prominent than others in terms of salience and clarity. Overall, these findings provide a descriptive empirical map of variation across personal identity domains, highlighting the contextual nature of identity content among adolescents in Indonesia.
In the context of increasing mental health concerns among university students, understanding professional help-seeking behavior has become increasingly important. This study examined the relationships among mental health literacy, self-stigma, stigma of mental illness, social support, and professional help-seeking behavior among Indonesian college students experiencing psychological difficulties. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted with 408 participants recruited through purposive sampling. Data were analyzed using JASP version 0.19.1, applying a regression-based model to examine direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Mental health literacy was tested as a mediator, while social support was examined as a moderator. The results indicated that mental health literacy was positively associated with professional help-seeking behavior. Stigma of mental illness was positively related to both mental health literacy and help-seeking, whereas self-stigma was not significantly associated with either variable. Mediation analysis showed that mental health literacy partially mediated the relationship between stigma of mental illness and help-seeking, but not between self-stigma and help-seeking. Social support did not significantly moderate the relationships between stigma variables and help-seeking behavior. These findings suggest that mental health literacy may represent one contributing factor associated with professional help-seeking among university students. However, given the cross-sectional design and modest explanatory power of the model, the results should be interpreted with caution. Future research is needed to further examine the underlying mechanisms of help-seeking behavior in this population.
In Indonesia, culturally grounded gerontological counseling frameworks rooted in Islamic intellectual traditions remain relatively underexamined despite growing scholarly attention to spirituality and aging. This study examines counseling practices for elderly individuals within Islamic institutional settings and interprets these practices through Al-Ghazali’s moral psychology to develop a Ghazalian-informed psychospiritual framework for elderly well-being. A qualitative multi-site interpretive case study was conducted across two Islamic elderly care institutions in East Java, Indonesia, involving 23 participants, including elderly residents, caregivers, and institutional staff. Data were collected through observations, interviews, field notes, and institutional documents, and analyzed using thematic analysis with iterative coding and cross-site comparison. The findings indicate that counseling practices within both institutions support emotional adaptation, spiritual reflection, moral guidance, and communal connectedness among elderly participants. These practices are not structured as formal clinical psychotherapy but are embedded within devotional routines and collective religious environments. Based on these empirical patterns, the study interprets the findings through a Ghazalian perspective and proposes a psychospiritual framework comprising interrelated domains of spiritual meaning-making, affective regulation, moral cultivation, and communal engagement. By situating these findings within Islamic moral anthropology, this study contributes a culturally grounded perspective to discussions on spirituality, aging, and Islamic counseling while recognizing the complementary role of spiritual care alongside professional mental health services.
This study aimed to develop a tool to diagnose spinsterhood anxiety among Muslim girls. A group of experts (n=26) evaluated these items to verify content validity. The items were shortened to 29 items. Two separate samples were subsequently selected: the first was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), while the second was used for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results revealed that 26 items explained five factors, representing 72.30% of the total variance. These factors were named family, personal, physical, sexual, and financial. The results also showed that the CFA provided positive confirmation of convergent validity and reliability, with significant evidence to support these statistics for the relationships between the Spinsterhood Anxiety Scale (SAS and the Beck Depression Inventory Arabic Version (BDI-ArV), Beck Anxiety Inventory Arabic Version (BAI-ArV), Well-Being (WB), and Arab Scale of Mental Health (ArS-MH) scales. Cronbach's alpha values for the five factors ranged between 0.88 and 0.75, while the total score was 0.91. The correlations between the SAS and the five factors were also significant. The scale predicted 79% of all BDI-ArV, BAI-ArV, WB, and ArS-MH. The study concluded that the SAS has suitable psychometric properties for diagnosis.
This study aimed to assess the validity of the Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice (KAP) questionnaire on purity among Muslims. Purity is a religious requirement that must be met for most acts of worship to be accepted. To develop the questionnaire, it was administered to a sample of 7 reviewers and 290 participants. The procedures consisted of two stages. The first stage was to build the tool’s items from previous literature. The second stage was to judge the tool through content validity. Three equations were used: the content validity ratio (CVR), scale-level content validity index (S-(CVI/Ave) and item-level content validity index (I-CVI), in addition to exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and reliability via test-retest and internal consistency. The results of the first stage showed that the questionnaire in its initial form consisted of 3 factors with a total of 81 items. After applying the content validity equations, it became clear that 17 items had a percentage of less than 99%, so they were deleted, and the number of items became 64. When EFA was conducted, 15 items were deleted, and the loading level was less than 0.4; thus, 49 questionnaire items were distributed across the three factors: practice (n=15), attitudes (n=18), and knowledge (n=16). The study concluded that the KAP questionnaire can be applied to Muslims' purity as a religious belief in maintaining public health, along with a religious requirement.
Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health issue in Jordan, yet research on perpetrator cognition remains limited. While prior abuse is a known risk factor, its association with how perpetrators explain their own violence specifically through causal attributions is underexplored in this context. This study aimed to examine the associations between prior abuse experiences and causal attributions among service-attending husbands in Jordan who have perpetrated IPV. A descriptive correlational design was employed with a convenience sample of 120 husbands recruited from rehabilitation and judicial services. Participants completed the Abuse Experiences Inventory (AEI) and the Causal Attribution Inventory (CAI), with data analyzed using Pearson correlations. Results indicated moderate levels across all attribution dimensions (internal, external, stable, unstable). Domestic abuse was the most reported prior experience. Weak but statistically significant positive correlations were found between all abuse domains and attribution dimensions (r = .186–.206, p < .05), with the strongest link between domestic abuse and external attributions. These findings suggest a modest association between abuse history and attribution styles, highlighting the potential value of addressing cognitive factors in perpetrator interventions without diminishing personal accountability. The study contributes to a nuanced understanding of IPV perpetrators in Jordan and underscores the need for longitudinal research to clarify these relationships.
Substance use rehabilitation is commonly approached through biomedical and psychosocial frameworks, with comparatively limited attention to how moral and spiritual meanings are constructed within recovery processes. In contexts where religious belief systems are embedded in everyday life, recovery may involve not only behavioral change but also the reinterpretation of self, responsibility, and life purpose. This study explores how individuals undergoing rehabilitation interpret and make sense of their recovery experiences through a da’wah counseling approach. An interpretive qualitative study was conducted at the National Narcotics Agency (BNN) in Lampung, Indonesia. Data were generated through in-depth interviews involving counselors and clients undergoing rehabilitation. Analysis focused on interpreting how participants understood and negotiated their experiences, using an iterative process of coding, comparison, and thematic interpretation. Findings indicate that da’wah counseling was experienced by participants as a process of moral and spiritual meaning-making rather than solely as religious instruction. Through guided reflection and value-oriented dialogue, clients reinterpreted their past behaviors, reframed recovery as a form of moral responsibility, and reconstructed a sense of self aligned with religious and social values. Practices such as remembrance (dzikir), repentance (taubah), and trust in God (tawakkul) were not only performed but imbued with personal meaning, serving as resources for managing emotional distress and sustaining behavioral change. Participants described recovery as a process of becoming more self-aware, emotionally regulated, and oriented toward purposeful living. These findings do not claim effectiveness but offer interpretive insight into how recovery is shaped through moral and spiritual meaning-making within a specific cultural and institutional context. The study contributes to culturally responsive counseling by illustrating how religious concepts can function as interpretive resources through which individuals understand and sustain change.
This study examines the resilience of Indonesian Migrant Worker (PMI) families in Taiwan and the strategies they apply in long-distance parenting. Using Henry’s family resilience model, it analyzes family risks, vulnerabilities, protection, adaptation, and socio-ecological factors. Data were collected through interviews with 25 PMIs in Taiwan, 25 left-behind children and 25 caregivers in Indonesia. The findings show that migration-related family risks are rooted in structural poverty, gendered labor regimes, and marital disruption, while vulnerability is shaped by low educational attainment, weak communication, and limited caregiving capacity. Religion emerges as a crucial protective resource in transnational family life. Beyond emotional coping, religious values provide moral guidance, sustain parental authority, shape caregiving practices, and support meaning-making across distance through practices such as religious instruction, pesantren-based (Islamic Boarding) care, and faith-informed role modeling. Family adaptation depends not only on individual agency but also on socio-ecological support, including faith-based organizations and migrant networks. The study extends family resilience theory by demonstrating how religion strengthens resilience processes in transnational families and highlights the importance of culturally grounded interventions for migrant family welfare.
After graduation from secondary school, students face the decision of selecting a university major, which may be influenced by factors beyond personal preferences, including herd behavior. Although previous research has identified various social and contextual influences on major choice, limited attention has been given to herd behavior as a distinct psychological mechanism, and there remains a lack of culturally grounded instruments to measure this construct, particularly within Middle Eastern contexts. The aims of this study were to construct a scale for the herd behavior effect on students’ university major choice (HBMC) and to explore any differences in this effect according to gender and college. A ten-item scale developed by the researcher was administered to a sample of 1,254 students from six universities in Jordan. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the unidimensional structure for the HBMC scale, and its good psychometric properties (α = 0.953). The results also indicated significant gender differences in the herd behavior effect, in favor of males (F = 5.281, df = 1, p < 0.01). These results highlight the importance of psychological and vocational guidance programs to enhance secondary school students’ independent thinking in selecting their university major according to their inclinations, abilities, aspirations, and their plans of professional future, rather than blindly imitating of others.
Grounded in the theoretical premise that Islamic religiosity constitutes a comprehensive ethical framework that may foster cognitive adaptability, which in turn supports moral reasoning, this study investigated the mediating role of cognitive flexibility in the relationship between Islamic religiosity and moral intelligence among Muslim university students. Using a cross-sectional correlational design, data were collected from 637 students (115 males, 522 females) aged 18-23 years at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Participants completed validated measures assessing Islamic religiosity (beliefs and commitment/practice), cognitive flexibility, and moral intelligence (responsibility, honesty, forgiveness, conscience, and compassion). Structural equation modeling revealed that Islamic religiosity positively correlated with both cognitive flexibility (β = .27, p < .001) and moral intelligence (β = .39, p < .001). Mediation analysis using Hayes's PROCESS macro with 5,000 bootstrap samples demonstrated that cognitive flexibility significantly mediated the religiosity-moral intelligence relationship, accounting for 37.3% of the total effect (indirect effect = .30, 95% CI [.21, .40]). The direct association between Islamic religiosity and moral intelligence remained significant (β = .24, p < .001), indicating partial mediation. Together, Islamic religiosity and cognitive flexibility explained 41.6% of variance in moral intelligence. These findings suggest that religious engagement associates with moral reasoning through dual pathways: directly through religiosity's inherent ethical framework, and indirectly through cognitive adaptability. Results have important implications for Islamic higher education, suggesting interventions might integrate religious instruction with cognitive flexibility training to support students' ethical development.
Psychological well-being is understood differently across cultural contexts, yet many culturally grounded frameworks remain conceptually described rather than empirically tested. One such framework is Pancawaluya, a Sundanese indigenous model that defines well-being through five core values: Cageur (physical and mental health), Bageur (kindness and prosocial conduct), Bener (moral integrity), Pinter (knowledge and wisdom), and Singer (creativity and adaptability). Although these values are widely recognized in Sundanese philosophy and practice, their structure as a measurable psychological construct has not been systematically validated. This study examined the factor structure and internal consistency of the Pancawaluya Scale using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Data were collected from 305 respondents and analyzed using LISREL. The results supported a five-factor model with satisfactory model fit indices (RMSEA = 0.031; CFI = 0.985; GFI = 0.958). Composite reliability indicated strong internal consistency, while AVE values suggested acceptable convergent validity for an indigenous construct in an early validation stage. The findings indicate that Pancawaluya can be operationalized as a coherent indigenous well-being construct. Its dimensions are theoretically discussed in relation to Islamic counseling principles, suggesting conceptual alignment in moral and spiritual values. This study provides an initial empirical foundation for future culturally grounded counseling research.
Individuals with mild intellectual disability (MID) experience elevated rates of anxiety that adversely affect emotional well-being and social participation. Although Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is well-established for anxiety in the general population, evidence for its use with individuals with MID remains limited. This case series explored the feasibility and preliminary clinical outcomes of an adapted CBT intervention for anxiety in adolescents with MID. Four adolescents (aged 14 years) with clinically significant anxiety received seven sessions of CBT adapted through simplified language, visual supports, repetition, role-play, and caregiver involvement. Anxiety was assessed at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-up using the Glasgow Anxiety Scale for People with an Intellectual Disability (GAS-ID). Individual change was evaluated using the Reliable Change Index (RCI). Qualitative data from participant worksheets and supporter interviews were analyzed thematically. All participants demonstrated reliable reductions in anxiety symptoms that were maintained at follow-up. Qualitative findings suggested improvements in emotional awareness, social participation, and coping skills. These findings indicate that adapted CBT may be feasible and potentially beneficial for adolescents with MID, warranting further evaluation in controlled studies.
Mothers who pursue doctoral study in Indonesia have grown in number alongside the broader expansion of doctoral education. However, how they interpret and make sense of navigating scholarly and maternal responsibilities within their sociocultural context remains largely unexplored. This study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to examine how ten Indonesian doctoral mothers (aged 31–43) constructed meaning around simultaneously inhabiting the roles of scholar and active mother. In-depth semi-structured interviews were analyzed ideographically prior to the development of carefully grounded cross-case interpretations. Five themes emerged. Participants experienced doctoral entry as institutional necessity rather than personal intellectual aspiration, driven by promotion requirements and credential gatekeeping. They described their doctoral journey as walking a narrow rope, balancing demands as doctoral students, academic professionals, and mothers while navigating hierarchical supervisory relationships. Traditional domestic responsibilities persisted unchanged alongside their studies, anchored by cultural understandings of kodrat wanita and reinforced by social surveillance. Profound guilt ran across their daily lives, directed toward their children, spouses, and academic selves. Faith practices, family networks, and peer solidarity functioned as their primary sustaining resources, transforming hardship into meaning through prayer, gratitude, and communal emotional sharing. These findings illuminate how Indonesian doctoral motherhood is shaped by the intersection of institutional demands, gendered cultural norms, and religious meaning-making. The study contributes to more culturally grounded understandings of academic motherhood and calls for institutional responses that recognize the lived complexity of women scholars in collectivist contexts.
The number of families raising children with autism spectrum disorder (abbreviated as ASD) is increasing, attributed to the expansion of diagnostic practices and increased awareness of autism. Research related to fathering children with ASD, is still dominated by Western society, often neglecting the realities experienced by fathers from non-Western societies. This research aims to deeply understand the experiences of muslim fathers raising children with ASD in Indonesia. A total of five Muslim fathers participated in this study. The sample size provides sufficient power to yield in-depth qualitative insights into the nuances of the challenges they face in their experience as fathers through detailed interviews. The data were analyzed using a thematic model, and four main themes were identified, reflecting Muslim fathers' experiences in raising children with ASD. The themes are: 'It's Just the Beginning,' highlighting the initial challenges; 'The Impact of Having a Child with ASD,' which explores emotional, physical and social repercussions; 'Focus on Advocating for Children,' indicating their active role in fulfilling children's rights; and 'Life Must Go On,' emphasizing resilience to continue living despite facing challenges. Each theme is interconnected, revealing the profound journey these fathers navigate. The characteristics of fathers, religion, education level, social value systems, culture, and the severity level of the child's condition Influence the fathers' experiences in raising children with ASD. This study encourages greater inclusion of religious and cultural considerations in discussions about fathering children with autism, serving as a basis for developing support systems and interventions.
Low psychological well-being and elevated help-seeking behaviors among students in Islamic boarding schools underscore the necessity for effective psychological support systems. This study assesses the effectiveness of a character strengths-based peer counseling intervention in enhancing students' psychological well-being within Islamic boarding school settings. Grounded in the principles of positive psychology and aligned with Islamic educational values, the intervention emphasizes five core character strengths (gratitude, hope, zest, curiosity, and love) delivered through a peer counseling framework. Employing a quasi-experimental pretest-posttest control group design, the study involved 81 first-year students (ages 13-17) from three pesantren in Semarang, randomly assigned to experimental (n = 45) and control (n = 36) groups. The Psychological Well-Being Scale (Ryff, 1989) was used to measure six dimensions of well-being. Data were analyzed via Two-Way ANOVA to evaluate the intervention's impact over time. Results indicated significant improvements in psychological well-being within the experimental group (p < .01), with a notable post-test mean score increase of 13.53 points, interaction effect with η²p = 0.049. This value approaches the moderate category. These findings substantiate that character strengths-based peer counseling is an effective and culturally appropriate intervention for promoting mental health in faith-based educational environments. The study contributes to applying positive psychology in non-Western contexts, emphasizing the potential of peer-led models to enhance adolescents' emotional resilience, interpersonal relationships, and religious character development. The study's limitations and potential directions for future research are also discussed to improve the generalizability and sustainability of the intervention.
