Spirituality and psychosocial factors in persons living with HIV

Aim of the study. This pilot study was designed to examine the relationship s among spirituality and psychosocial factors in a sample of 52 adult males living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease and to determine th e most reliable spirituality measure for a proposed longitudinal study. Background. HIV disease is among the most devastating of illnesses, having multiple and profound effects upon all aspects of the biopsychosocial and s piritual being. Although research has suggested relationships among various psychosocial and spiritual factors, symptomatology and physical health, mu ch more research is needed to document their potential influences on immune function, as well as health status, disease progression, and quality of li fe among persons with HIV disease. Methods. This descriptive correlational study explored the relationships of spirituality and psychosocial measures. Spirituality was measured in terms of spiritual perspective, well-being and health using three tools: the Spi ritual perspective Scale, the Spiritual Well-Being Scale, and the Spiritual Health Inventory. Five psychosocial instruments were used to measure aspec ts of stress and coping: the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale, Dealing w ith Illness Scale, Social provisions Scale, Impact of Events Scale, and Fun ctional Assessment of HIV infection Scale. The sample was recruited as part of an ongoing funded study. The procedures from the larger study were well -defined and followed in this pilot study. Correlational analyses were done to determine the relationship between spirituality and the psychosocial me asures. Findings. The findings indicate chat spirituality as measured by the existe ntial wellbeing (EWB) subscale of the Spiritual Wc Well-Being Scale was pos itively related to quality of life, social support, effective coping strate gies and negatively related to perceived stress, uncertainty, psychological distress and emotional-focused coping. The other spirituality measures had less significant or non significant relationships with the psychological m easures. Conclusions. The study findings support the inclusion of spirituality as a variable for consideration when examining the psychosocial factors and the duality of life of persons living with HIV disease. The spiritual measure t hat best captures these relationships is the EWB subscale of the Spiritual Well-Being Scale.