Prayer as Interpersonal Coping in the Lives of Mothers with HIV

Abstract

The spirituality of 22 mothers diagnosed with HIV was explored through face-to-face interviews and revealed that 95% of the mothers pray. Active prayers (e.g., talking to God by adoring, thanking, confessing, and supplicating) were more frequently reported than receptive prayers (e.g., quietly listening to God, being open, surrendering). Supplicatory or petitionary prayers for help and health were the most frequent type of prayer, and adoration was the least frequent. The majority of mothers in the sample perceived prayer as a positive coping mechanism associated with outcomes such as: support, positive attitude/affect, and peace. Overall, results supported expanding the boundary conditions of the interpersonal coping component of the Social Interaction Model (Derlega & Barbee, 1998) to include the spiritual dimension of prayer.

Key Words:

• Mothers
• women
• HIV
• prayer
• religion
• spirituality