Among Persons Living with HIV

Living with HIV disease is challenging for most individuals, particularly those who are faced with other stressors including inadequate housing, financial need, and limited social support. HIV can be a severely debilitating illness that results in repeated opportunistic infections, physical and mental health impairment, and early death. However, it is clear that many individuals who are HIV positive have fared better than others in coping with their illness and maintaining good health functioning over time. Religion or spirituality can be a resource that people with chronic diseases use to cope with the physiological and psychosocial challenges of illness (see review in McCormick et al., 2001). Nonetheless, information about the effects of spirituality on the health and well-being of persons infected with HIV is limited (McCormick et al., 2001; Tuck et al., 2001). HIV is a complex illnes