Mental Health Awareness among Imams Serving New Zealand's Muslim Population.

Abstract

As clerical leaders, imams are key members of Muslim communities, and they provide spiritual guidance and advice to Muslims resident in New Zealand, including an increasingly diverse immigrant population. The aims of this study were to ascertain imams' knowledge of and beliefs about mental health and to identify any gaps in their knowledge of local mental health perspectives and services, as well as to explore the role of imams in providing support for individuals and families within the Muslim community who have mental health issues. In their role as leaders, imams provide a type of counselling service to the community and are called upon to offer advice on a range of issues directly related to mental health. In this study, ten imams were interviewed regarding their knowledge of mental health and their role in providing support in this area. Establishing dialogue with imams about local perspectives on mental health would go far toward addressing the mental health needs of Muslim communities by exploring the ways in which mental health training could be incorporated into the imams' own culturally appropriate healing practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of New Zealand Journal of Counselling is the property of New Zealand Association of Counsellors and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)