ArticleBMJ global health2023
Spiritual and religious aspects influence mental health and viral load: a quantitative study among young people living with HIV in Zimbabwe.
Article in BMJ global health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Association Between Geriatric Depression and Musculoskeletal Disorders Among Older Nigerian Adults: A Multicenter Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2026Article
- Article
- Exploring antiretroviral treatment discontinuation among people living with HIV in Indonesia: A qualitative study.Belitung nursing journal · 2025Article
- The Need to Widen the Concept of Health and to Include the Spiritual Dimension.International journal of public health · 2024Article
- Religious and traditional beliefs and practices as predictors of mental and physical health outcomes and the role of religious affiliation in health outcomes and risk taking.BMC public health · 2023Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
introductionThe role of religion and spirituality as social determinants of health has been widely discussed. Studies among people living with HIV describe positive and negative influences of religion and spirituality on health outcomes. With a HIV prevalence of 14.8% for females and 8.6% for males, and 22 000 AIDS-related deaths in 2020, HIV infection remains a life-threatening condition in Zimbabwe, especially in young people. The aim of this research was to measure the influence of religion and spirituality on the health outcomes of young people living with HIV in Zimbabwe.
methodsA quantitative questionnaire with three different validated measures of religion and spirituality (Belief into Action Scale, Brief Religious Coping Index, Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale), demographic, cultural, behavioural and health questions was administered to 804 young Zvandiri programme clients in rural, urban and peri-urban Zimbabwe between July and October 2021. Regression analysis established significant relations between the result of the three different measures and mental health and viral load results.
resultsReligious coping significantly reduced the probability of common mental disorder, while high religious activity increased the risk. The Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale proved to be a reliable indicator of higher viral loads, risk for treatment failure and the probability of common mental disorder.
conclusionsAll three measures of religion and spirituality related to health outcomes. More research is needed to generalise and further explore these findings. Because the Religious and Spiritual Struggles Scale was a strong indicator for both, higher viral loads and common mental disorder, we suggest that it should be used and validated in other sub-Saharan contexts. It could serve as a new diagnostic tool for the early detection and prevention of treatment failure as well as of common mental disorder.
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