CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 344Religion, Spirituality, and PsychologyHIV/AIDS Research and InterventionsWorkplace Spirituality and Leadership

An increase in religiousness/spirituality occurs after HIV diagnosis and predicts slower disease progression over 4 years in people with HIV

Open access
Ironson, Gail, Stuetzle, Rick, Fletcher, Mary Ann·2006·Journal of General Internal Medicine
DOI 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00648.xPMC PMC1924782
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Background Most studies on religion/spirituality predicting health outcomes have been limited to church attendance as a predictor and have focused on healthy people. However, confronting a major medical crisis may be a time when people turn to the sacred.Objective The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which changes in spirituality/religiousness occur after HIV diagnosis and whether changes predict disease progression.Design/participants This longitudinal study examined the relationship between changes in spirituality/religiousness from before with after the diagnosis of HIV, and disease progression (CD4 and viral load [VL] every 6 months) over 4 years in 100 people with HIV. Measures included change in religiousness/spirituality after diagnosis of HIV, religiousness/spirituality at various times in one's life, church attendance, depression, hopelessness, optimism, coping (avoidant, proactive), social support, CD4/VL, and health behaviors.Results Forty-five percent of the sample showed an increase in religiousness/spirituality after the diagnosis of HIV, 42% remained the same, and 13% decreased. People reporting an increase in spirituality/religiousness after the diagnosis had significantly greater preservation of CD4 cells over the 4-year period, as well as significantly better control of VL. Results were independent of (i.e., held even after controlling for) church attendance and initial disease status (CD4/VL), medication at every time point, age, gender, race, education, health behaviors (adherence, risky sex, alcohol, cocaine), depression, hopelessness, optimism, coping (avoidant, proactive), and social support.Conclusions There is an increase in spirituality/religiousness after HIV diagnosis, and this increase predicts slower disease progression; medical personnel should be aware of its potential importance.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00648.x

Cites

35 of 35 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Of the 14 highest-quality immune function studies, 10 (71%) reported significant positive associations or increased immune functions in response to an R/S intervention.

    “Of the 14 studies with the highest quality ratings, 10 (71%) reported significant positive associations [437–443] or increased immune functions in response to a R/S intervention [444–447].”

    From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [446]

  • Of the 14 highest-quality cognitive function studies, eight (57%) reported positive relationships and three (21%) reported negative relationships with cognitive function.

    “Of the 14 studies with the highest quality ratings, eight (57%) reported positive relationships [423–430] and three (21%) reported negative relationships with cognitive function [431–433].”

    From Religion, Spirituality, and Health: The Research and Clinical Implications (2012) · cites this paper as [431]

    The cited paper’s Discussion tables examine spirituality and HIV disease progression using CD4 counts and viral load, not cognitive function. Searches for cognitive-function relationships and the reported 14-study breakdown found no passage addressing either; the paper therefore cannot verify the negative-relationship count for which it is cited. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Ironson G, O'Cleirigh C, Fletcher MA, et al. Psychosocial factors pre- dict CD4 and viral load change in men and women in the era of HAART. Psychosomat Med. 2005;67:1013-21.
  2. Ironson G, Kremer H, Ironson D. Spirituality, spiritual experiences, and spiritual transformations in the face of HIV. In: Koss-Chiono J, Hefner P, eds. Spiritual Transformation and Healing: Anthropological, Religious, Neuroscientific, and Clinical Perspectives. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press; 2006:241.
  3. Cotton S, Tsevat J, Szaflarski M, et al. Religious and spiritual experi- ences of people with HIV. J Gen Intern Med. 2006;21:s5-13.
  4. Psychiatric Annals Special Issue: Spirituality in Psychiatric Practice: Guidelines for assessing and managing religious and spiritual issues. March 2006; 137-204.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Ironson, G., Stuetzle, R., & Fletcher, M. A.
Affiliations
University of Miami (US)
Corresponding author
Ironson, Gail
ORCID
Ironson, Gail
Venue
Journal of General Internal Medicine
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2006-12
Volume
21
Issue
S5
Pages
S62-S68
ISSN
  • 0884-8734 (ISSN-L)
  • 1525-1497
DOI
10.1111/j.1525-1497.2006.00648.x
PMC
PMC1924782
OpenAlex
W2151484055
Cited by
344
References
35
Citations by year
2026: 6 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 50 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 62 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 8 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 17 · 2014: 24 · 2013: 13 · 2012: 20
FWCI
13.50
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of General Internal Medicine (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • NSUWorks (Nova Southeastern University) (submittedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH066697, R01 MH53791, R01MH053791)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Health › Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
Keywords
HIV, religiosity, spirituality, HIV diagnosis, disease progression, CD4 count, viral load, coping, church attendance, depression, hopelessness, optimism, social support, coping styles
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Florida, Humans, Life Change Events, Longitudinal Studies, Religion and Psychology, Risk-Taking, Social Support, HIV Infections, Causality, Disease Progression

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review