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Published: 19 April 2026

A comparative study of spiritual health in HIV-positive patients and healthy individuals

Scientific Reports , Article number: (2026) Cite this article

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Abstract

Given the role and importance of spiritual well-being in individuals living with AIDS and the role of psychological interventions on the spiritual components of these patients, the present study was conducted to study and examine the spiritual well-being of HIV-positive patients and compare it with healthy individuals. This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study conducted in Mashhad (a metropolitan area in northeast of Iran) in 2021. A census method was employed for the research, involving HIV-positive patients and a random sample of healthy individuals visiting the Comprehensive Health Center, who participated after giving informed consent. The demographic form and the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire (SWBQ) were completed by the patients. The statistical analysis was performed using SPSS software (version 11.5), and the significance level was considered at p < 0.05. A total of 201 participants entered the study with a mean age of 38.29 ± 10.53 years, including 102 HIV-positive patients and 99 healthy individuals. The total spiritual well-being score in the HIV group was 77 (57–84), while the healthy group scored 100 (88–107) (P < 0.001). Regression analysis showed that occupation and HIV infection were two significant variables in the model for prediction the total spiritual well-being score. The total score of AIDS patients on the Spiritual Well-Being Questionnaire was significantly lower than that of healthy individuals. It is recommended that the health system authorities take action to increase the spiritual well-being of HIV-positive patients.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available in Excel format, and so are not publicly available. Data are however available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request and with permission of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to the Health Deputy of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and the Research Deputy of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences for their support in carrying out this project.

Funding

This work was supported by the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Maryam Ansari Aval, Mohammad Khajedaluee & Maliheh Dadgarmoghaddam
Faculty of Medicine, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Fatemeh Ayoubi

Contributions

MAA: consulting analysis, methodology, visualization, writing – original draft, and writing – review & editing.FA: Conceptualization, investigation, project administration, data gathering and data curation, validation, writing – review & editing.MKH: Conceptualization, visualization, writing, review & editing.MD: Conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, visualization, writing – review & editing.All authors reviewed the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maliheh Dadgarmoghaddam.

Ethics declarations

Consent for publication

Ethical approval reference number IR.MUMS.MEDICAL.REC.1399.632 from Biomedical Research Ethics Committee part of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This research was approved by Biomedical Research Ethics Committee part of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences with Ethical approval reference number IR.MUMS.MEDICAL.REC.1399.632.This study was a cross sectional stuy that the participant only complete a questionnaire, and we did not do any intervention in this study.So the verbal consent was obtained from the participants, and they were allowed to refrain from completing the questionnaire if they did not wish to participate. All information related to the participants was kept confidential, and codes were used instead of names for recording.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Aval, M.A., Ayoubi, F., Khajedaluee, M. et al. A comparative study of spiritual health in HIV-positive patients and healthy individuals. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42631-8

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Received08 September 2025
Accepted26 February 2026
Published19 April 2026
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-42631-8

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