Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ): Validity Evidence among HIV+ Patients in Northeast Brazil

Cassiano Augusto Oliveira Da Silva,Arndt Büssing,Tânia Cristina De Oliveira Valente,Ana Paula Rodrigues Cavalcanti,Carlos André Macêdo Cavalcanti,Kaline Da Silva Lima

doi:10.3390/rel11050234

Cassiano Augusto Oliveira Da Silva, Arndt Büssing + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/rel11050234

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Abstract

The Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) measures psychosocial, existential, and spiritual needs in clinical contexts. The objective was to confirm its factor structure in Brazil, comparing the results of its validation for Portuguese in Rio de Janeiro, under similar sampling conditions, in João Pessoa (Paraíba-Brazil), among 157 HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus)+ patients, most of them men (49%) (women = 35%; other = 16%), aged between 30 and 49 years (53.5%). From exploratory factor analysis and internal consistency analysis a structure of five factors (or components) was obtained: Religious Needs (α = 0.73), Inner Peace and Family Support Needs, gathered (α = 0.64), Existential Needs (α = 0.49) and two new factors instead of “Giving/Generativity Needs”, being Social Recognition Needs (α = 0.54), referring explicitly to religious practices, with items formerly found in the Religious Needs factor, and Time Domain: Reflection and Clarification Needs (α = 0.57), which group only two items (item 4, “reflection on the past” (formerly in the Inner Peace component) and item 5, “resolution of outstanding problems”). The institutional religiosity perceived in the composition of the Social Recognition Needs component shows that these patients differentiate “religiosity” from “spirituality”. The Religious Needs component was formed with items from the “spirituality” construct definition. The most important component was Inner Peace and Family Support Needs, a relevant coping strategy in this disease. The results met proper validity criteria, and SpNQ proved to be sensitive and appropriate to situations of cultural and clinical diversity between samplings.

Highlights

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a chronic disease, like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes
Living with HIV (the infected persons are called ‘people living with HIV’ (PLHIV) (BRAZIL, 2015)) means that this infection is a permanent state; it implies changing habits and behaviors, coexisting with social and emotional impacts of the Religions 2020, 11, 234; doi:10.3390/rel11050234
The present study reapplied the Spiritual Needs Questionnaire (SpNQ) among PLHIV in João Pessoa, Paraíba, in a confirmatory factor analysis of its validation in Portuguese

Summary

Introduction

AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) is a chronic disease, like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes. Even if contaminated with the virus by accident, a patient will face the former, old social stigma, discrimination will arise from the same moral statements and old beliefs, and negative judgments and feelings will have to be dealt with in addition to the stronger fear of death. This situation requires coping strategies to keep on living despite these consequences, which can affect the adherence to the treatment (de Brito 2016). One of the positive strategies is to turn to religion/spirituality as a source of inner strength and resilience. The review of Doolittle et al (2018), identified that 10 out of the 14 selected studies reported a positive association between religion/spirituality as a coping strategy and therapy adherence

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