The Role of Military Commanders as Mentors in the Spiritual Health of Society: Based on the Sound Heart Model

Background and Aim: Health and safety are the greatest blessings. In biological crises, the armed forces are the protectors of people's health. Military personnel defend the country, protect security, independence, and territorial integrity. Complex military missions, the possibility of injury and disability, fear of failure, captivity, and death are the causes of psychosomatic diseases in the military, which affect the family and society. Commanders act as social role models. The spiritual leadership of Mentor commanders is a guarantee of spiritual preparation in combat and effectively reduces the stress of soldiers. This study was conducted with the aim of explaining the role of military commanders as mentor in the spiritual health of society.
Methods: In a mixed-method research, based on the Creswell et al., model (2003) with a discovery-explanatory approach, qualitative data from non-systematic review and contractual content analysis of different types of spirituality, religious spirituality, spiritual leadership, spiritual mentoring, the theory of personality, spiritual pathology theory of Sound Heart Model with quantitative data from the clinical applications of the model were integrated. The validity of meta-inferences of research was measured in the quantitative data section through internal-external validity and in the qualitative data section with "reliability" or "capability index".
Results: Spiritual health means having a sound heart. It is the result of a healthy spiritual personality. Commanders with "healthy spiritual character" behave with wisdom, chastity, courage, generosity, altruism, and kindness. They can cause spiritual training and spiritual preparation of military forces and their families through scaffolding in model-oriented training. Mentor military commanders improve the spiritual health of soldiers and families by creating a secure attachment to God and a positive image of God. Attachment to the Prophet in the position of an interpreter of the holy text of the Quran and a healthy spiritual model and following the Prophet's lifestyle lead to a correct understanding of religion, creating a positive image of God and secure attachment to God (belief in God's presence and sufficiency). Secure attachment to God reduces job stress and pressures of life events. The spiritual leadership of mentor commanders and their "lifestyle" has an effect on improving the spiritual health of society by changing people's attitudes towards life events.
Conclusion: Considering the effect of model-oriented education on the formation of a healthy spiritual personality and spiritual training, it is recommended that commanders improve the spirituality of military forces and their families by strengthening the positive image of God and secure attachment to God and try to improve the spiritual health of civilians by changing their attitude towards life events.