Spiritual Coping and Duration Since Diagnosis Associated With Quality of Life Among Women With HIV: A Cross-Sectional...

Women with HIV (WWHIV) are a vulnerable group that faces medical challenges as well as psychological, social, and spiritual pressures that affect quality of life. Improving their quality of life requires a holistic approach that considers nonmedical factors alongside social and cultural ones. This study aims to evaluate the association between spiritual coping, duration since diagnosis, and quality of life among WWHIV.

This study employed a cross-sectional design and was conducted at a government hospital from March 2024 to August 2024. A total of 120 WWHIV were recruited through purposive sampling based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quality of life was assessed with an adapted instrument based on the WHOQOL framework, and spiritual coping was measured with a modified spiritual coping scale. Data were analyzed using Spearman's rank correlation and ordinal logistic regression.

Spiritual coping was positively related to quality of life (r = 0.560, p < 0.001). The duration since diagnosis was also positively associated with quality of life (r = 0.402, p < 0.001). Ordinal logistic regression showed that low spiritual coping was associated with lower odds of a higher quality of life (OR = 0.014, 95% CI = 0.002-0.096, p < 0.001). Participants diagnosed for < 6 months and 7-12 months also had lower odds of higher quality of life than those diagnosed for more than 2 years (OR = 0.157, 95% CI = 0.034-0.727 and OR = 0.067, 95% CI = 0.011-0.425, with p < 0.05). The model explained 47.5%-55.8% of the variance in quality of life (Nagelkerke R ² = 0.558).

Spiritual coping and duration since diagnosis were significantly associated with quality of life among WWHIV. These findings highlight the importance of integrating psychosocial and spiritual support into HIV care, particularly during the early postdiagnosis period.