INTEGRATION OF THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION IN STRENGTHENING PARENTAL SELF-EFFICACY AND MANAGING PARENTING STRESS IN MUSLIM MOTHERS: A DESCRIPTIVE PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY

Dwi Afrianti, Muhammad Zein Permana

Abstract


The role of a mother is a trust (amanah) that demands both psychological and spiritual readiness, so parenting demands that are not managed well run the risk of lowering the mother’s belief in her own abilities (Parental Self Efficacy) and increasing parenting stress. From the perspective of Islamic Psychology, the spiritual dimension is seen as a psychological resource that helps mothers carry out parenting adaptively, but studies describing how this spiritual dimensions is integrated by Muslim mothers are still limited. This study aims to describe the experiences of Muslim mothers in integrating the spiritual dimension into the strengthening of Parental Self Efficacy and the management of parenting stress. The study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive phenomenological method. Three Muslim mothers were selected using purposive sampling; data were collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews which were transcribed verbatim, and analyzed following Colaizzi’s (1978) seven stages. The study resulted in six themes, namely adaptation to the mother’s role parenting stress, parenting efficacy, spiritual coping, social support, and the meaning of motherhood. The results showed that adaptation to the maternal role triggers parenting stress which affects the mother's beliefs, but through spiritual coping in the form of prayer ( salat ), dhikr , istighfar , supplication ( prayer ), and religious studies, as well as social support especially from husbands, participants were able to regulate their emotions and build parenting efficacy rooted in faith in Allah. This process ultimately shapes the meaning of motherhood as a trust and a form of worship. The novelty of this research lies in the explanation that strengthening parental self-efficacy in Muslim mothers is not merely a cognitive-behavioral process as explained by Bandura's social cognitive theory, but a psychological-spiritual process that enriches Islamic psychology studies regarding the role of spirituality in parenting experiences.

Keywords


Parental Self Efficacy; Parenting Stress; Spiritual Dimension; Muslim Mothers; Descriptive Phenomenology; Islamic Psychology

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DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.30829/jai.v15i4.31641

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