A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor Of Philosophy (D.Phil) in the Department of Psychology at the University Of Zululand, 2017 / In South Africa, one of the most distressing concerns of many people living with HIV/AIDS is the stigma attached to this diagnosis. This intense stigma is psychologically traumatic, even leading to levels of depression. Religion or spirituality has come to be one of the most essential and effective coping strategies to live with the pandemic and depression as its consequence. This study sought to establish the impact of religion/spirituality on people living with HIV/AIDS using a convenient sample in South Africa. Using quantitative research methods, the study used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) to assess the severity of depression on HIV/AIDS victims. The BDI-II is presently one of the most commonly used scales for rating depression to indicate the level of distress the respondent is experiencing. To assess spirituality among people living with HIV, the Religious Coping (RCOPE) was used to measure the coping measures used by people living with HIV and AIDS. The results of the study established that, in both samples, respondents having a HIV positive status with depression levels within the spiritual/religious cohort, are different from those of the nonspiritual/religious cohort. Expressed differently, spirituality or religion seems to have a calming effect on the respondents to the extent that it lessens their level of depression. Furthermore, it was established that there is a considerably strong inverse relationship between religion/spirituality and depression. In fact, the correlation coefficient is -0.89 suggesting a near perfect negative relationship between the variables. In other words, as one’s spirituality/religious quotient increases, one’s depression levels decreases. The study concludes that, spirituality and religiousness plays an important role in the lives of patients with depression and HIV, and is the corner stone of coping strategies and longevity. Moreover, the study recommends that physicians should consider fusing in spirituality coping strategies in treating depressed HIV positive patients.

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