Positive and negative religious coping, depressive symptoms, and quality of life in people with HIV

Abstract

The present study examined the relationships of positive and negative types of religious coping with depression and quality of life, and the mediating role of benefit finding in the link between religious coping and psychological outcomes among 198 individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The results of multiple hierarchical analyses revealed that negative religious coping was significantly associated with a high level of depressive symptoms and a low level of quality of life, controlling for demographic and clinical variables. On the other hand, positive religious coping was significantly associated with positive domains of outcome measures such as positive affect and life satisfaction, but not with overall depressive symptoms or quality of life. Tests of mediation analyses showed that benefit finding fully mediated the relationship between positive religious coping and the positive sub-domains of psychological outcomes. The importance of investigating both positive and negative types of religious coping in their relationships with psychological adaptation in people with HIV was discussed, as well as the significance of benefit finding in understanding the link between religious coping and psychological outcomes.

Religiosidade prejudicada e sofrimento espiritual em pessoas vivendo com HIV/aids

“…Based on the study findings, it is possible to say that religiosity/spirituality is relevant in addressing HIV, since the scores of all religious and spiritual coping were high. Furthermore, positive coping has been used more than the negative coping, which corroborates the results obtained in other studies (13)(14)(15)(16) .…”

Personal resilience and coping Part II: Identifying resilience and coping among U.S. military service members and veterans with implications for work

“…While religion-based coping can help in a number of difficult personal situations, the relationship between one's belief systems and their ability to cope with life is complex, and these beliefs can impact coping in either positive or negative ways. For example, positive religion-based coping following divorce has been shown to be predictive of post-traumatic growth, while negative religion-based coping was predictive of greater depressive symptoms under situations such as divorce [30,31], as well as among those in high stress jobs, including clinical nursing [32].…”

Numinosity and Adaptation to Stress: The Role of Religiosity, Spirituality and Religious Coping in Adaptation to Significant Life Events

“…Life satisfaction and quality of life have been associated with positive religious coping (Lee, Nezu & Nezu, 2014). Furthermore, studies have demonstrated that religious coping methods add unique variance to the prediction of well-being above the effects of non-religious coping (Abu-Raiya & Pargament, 2014).…”