Diagnosing recurring explanatory gaps and proposing a mechanism-based psychoeducational framework in Islamic-tradition long-term care: a model informed by the moral exemplarity of the prophet Muhammad.

This study examines Islamic-tradition psychosocial, religious, and spiritual intervention programs implemented in institutional long-term care settings. As a Hypothesis and Theory contribution, the study adopts a conceptual-theoretical research design. Eight intervention programs identified through a structured search across multiple databases were examined across four analytical dimensions. These dimensions were program theory articulation, mechanism specification, construct-measurement alignment, and methodological integrity. The analysis identified three recurring methodological limitations. These are insufficient specification of component-mechanism-outcome chains; methodological challenges related to fidelity monitoring, control condition design, and role differentiation; and reliance on single-source self-report data without systematic cognitive-capacity screening. The analysis also identified a content-level gap. The outcome architectures of the reviewed programs are organized around constructs such as happiness, depression, and quality of life, while loneliness, self-esteem, and death anxiety are not designated as primary outcomes. These three constructs are among the psychosocial vulnerabilities most prevalent in this population. This pattern points to a gap in the collective target architecture of this literature. The findings suggest that the main issue within the literature examined here is not the absence of intervention effects. Rather, it is the insufficient explanatory infrastructure needed to account for those effects. In response, the study proposes a mechanism-based and modular psychoeducational framework grounded in the uswah ḥasanah tradition. The framework positions the moral exemplarity of the Prophet Muhammad as its pedagogical organizing principle. Through three sequential modules, loneliness, self-esteem, and death anxiety are addressed as primary outcome constructs. Each outcome is structured through explicitly specified component-mechanism-outcome pathways. The framework also incorporates a four-level CIPP (Context-Input-Process-Product) evaluation architecture and a multi-source fidelity-monitoring infrastructure. This structure aims to strengthen implementation transparency and theory testing. By shifting attention from outcome reporting to mechanism specification, the proposed framework advances the conceptual foundations of faith-based psychosocial intervention research in long-term care settings. The model also provides a theory-informed basis for the development, evaluation, and continued refinement of spiritually integrated interventions aimed at promoting psychosocial wellbeing in later life.