Enhancing the perceived health of HIV seropositive men.

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between hope, social support, uncertainty in illness, and spirituality and their effect on the perceived health of HIV seropositive men. A prospective design was used to test a causal model on a sample of 125 HIV seropositive men recruited from urban HIV/AIDS outpatient clinics. A goodness of fit index of .90 and a comparative fit index of .79 indicated minimal fit of the theorized model with the data. Findings revealed significant, positive paths from hope to perceived health and from spirituality to hope. Significant negative paths were found between social support and uncertainty in illness and uncertainty in illness and hope. The level of hope may play an important role in enhancing health of HIV seropositive men.