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The Impact of Negative Moral Character on Health and the Role of Spirituality: A Narrative Literature Review

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Abstract

Although negative moral character is highly prevalent, it is not included in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Along with the modification of WHO ICD-11, spirituality should be acknowledged for its potetnial role in the prevention of negative moral traits. This study aimed to explore the effects of negative moral character on health and determine the role of spirituality in improving negative moral traits. This narrative literature review was conducted from 2020 to 2023 in Kabul, Afghanistan. The articles were obtained from the Web of Science, PubMed, and Google Scholar databases. As demonstrated in this narrative literature review, most of the relevant experimental and observational studies have found that negative moral character can have significant negative impact on overall health and well-being. Many studies have established the positive role of spirituality in improving negative moral character. These studies concluded that facilities must be available within schools, universities, and communities for everyone to gain knowledge of spirituality and improve their negative moral character. Considering the adverse impacts of negative moral character on health, the current study proposes the addition of moral disorder to the WHO International Classification of Diseases. According to this literature review, spirituality will improve negative moral character and strengthen excellent moral traits.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank anyone who performed their humanitarian responsibilities for the improvement of moral character of human beings; and also, any authors who published articles or books in this field.

Funding

No any funding was getting for this literature review. The authors performed this article review on the basis of humanitarian responsibilities.

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Contributions

Conceptualization, data analysis, manuscript drafting, editing and reviewing was performed by MA. DD and SAS collected the data and supported technically. All authors approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mansoor Aslamzai.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

This narrative literature review was approved by the Department of Neonatology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences (protocol no. 1 and date 25/3/2020).

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Mansoor Aslamzai is a professor at the Department of Neonatology, Kabul University of Medical Sciences (KUMS), Afghanistan. He has also been a member of the European Society for Pediatric Research since 2021. Delaqa Del is a professor at the Department of Medicine, Nangarhar Medical Faculty, Afghanistan. Sayed Azam Sajid is a Clinical Documentation Specialist at Saints John’s Regional Medical Centre, United States.

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Aslamzai, M., Del, D. & Sajid, S.A. The Impact of Negative Moral Character on Health and the Role of Spirituality: A Narrative Literature Review. J Relig Health 63, 1117–1153 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01942-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-023-01942-0

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