EARLY EXPLORATION OF AN INTEGRATED ISLAMIC MENTAL HEALTH RESILIENCE MODEL FOR MUSLIM UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Author: Malaysia

Özet

This study aims to develop and validate an Integrated Islamic Mental Health Resilience Model (i-IMHRM) for Muslim university students confronting the psychological pressures of the digital era, including social media overuse, cyber-comparison, information overload, and digital fatigue. Guided by an Islamic epistemological framework anchored in tawakkul (reliance on God), sabr (patience), and redha (contentment with divine decree), the study integrates classical Islamic psycho-spiritual constructs with contemporary resilience theory to produce a model responsive to the realities of digitally mediated student life. A qualitative-dominant, expert-consensus design employing the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was adopted, involving a purposively selected panel of experts drawn from Islamic psychology, counselling, educational technology, and Shariah-based mental health practice. Two rounds of structured questionnaires were administered, and expert responses were converted into triangular fuzzy numbers, defuzzified, and evaluated against three acceptance thresholds: a threshold value (d) not exceeding 0.2, a minimum expert consensus of 75%, and a defuzzified fuzzy score (A) of at least 0.5. Findings indicate that six constructs achieved expert consensus and were retained in the final model: Aqidah-Based Spiritual Resilience, Ibadah-Based Coping Mechanism, Akhlaq-Based Emotional Regulation, Wasatiyyah Digital Self-Regulation, Ukhuwwah Social Support Network, and Ilm-Based Cognitive and Help-Seeking Resilience, organised around a core of tawakkul, sabr, and redha. The resulting i-IMHRM offers a theoretically grounded and practically actionable framework for university counselling centres, Islamic education units, and student affairs divisions seeking to design digitally responsive, faith-congruent mental health interventions. Implications for policy, curriculum design, and future confirmatory validation using structural equation modelling are discussed.