Abstract
Background: since its discovery as the etiological agent of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has infected 75.7 million people worldwide Due to the specific characteristics of the Brazilian population, it is considered that spirituality, or spiritual well-being, is an important factor in the way individuals face the HIV/AIDS problematic and its consequences. To understand the spirituality of living with HIV in the light of Neuman's Systems Model.
 Method: qualitative, descriptive-exploratory research in the light of the Systems Model proposed by Betty Neuman. Data collection took place between the months of March and August 2016 in an outpatient clinic specialized in the treatment of patients with HIV/AIDS of a university hospital located in the city of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil. Thirty people living with HIV participated in the study. The data were collected through a questionnaire and an interview with a semi-structured script and underwent categorical content analysis.
 Results: the understanding of spirituality in living with HIV is presented in three categories: the discovery of the diagnosis and the initial reactions: stressors that affect the lines of defense; the spiritual and religious search: protection when stressors penetrate the lines of defense; and the influence of faith combined with ART in living with HIV: dynamic relationship of the variable spirituality with the other variables.
 Conclusion: the applicability of the theory can provide important gains to the patient living with HIV/AIDS, generating a way to ensure the strengthening and establishment of lines of defense during their daily lives, and thus maintaining the balance of the patient's system, as well as the harmonic relationship between its variables and the environment.
Highlights
Since its discovery as the etiological agent of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has infected 75.7 million people worldwide [1]
It is considered that the treatment was the main factor associated with the decrease in mortality caused by AIDS, which promoted in the long run an increase of the population living with HIV[3], allowed the overcoming of strictly biomedical concerns and raised the concerns for the psychosocial and spiritual dimensions[4]
A research study on coping strategies of people living with HIV (PLHIV) found that the most used strategy of these individuals is to search for religious/spiritual practices [6]
Summary
Since its discovery as the etiological agent of the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) has infected 75.7 million people worldwide [1] This serious public health problem has generated significant implications for people’s lives over the years, and its confrontation has required incentives and resources from permanent public policies. Due to the specific characteristics of the Brazilian population, it is considered that spirituality, or spiritual well-being, is an important factor in the way individuals face the HIV/AIDS problematic and its consequences [5]. Due to the specific characteristics of the Brazilian population, spirituality, or spiritual well-being, is an important factor in the way individuals face the HIV/AIDS problematic and its consequences. This work seeks to understand the spirituality of people living with HIV in light of Neuman’s Systems Model.
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