They lift my spirit up: stakeholders' perspectives on support teams for African Americans facing serious illness.

BACKGROUND

Active social and spiritual support for persons with cancer and other serious illnesses has been shown to improve psychological adjustment to illness and quality of life.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate a community-based support team intervention within the African American community using stakeholder interviews.

METHODS

Support team members were recruited from African American churches, community organizations, and the social network of individuals with serious illness. Support teams provided practical, emotional, and spiritual care for persons with cancer and other serious illness. The intervention was evaluated using semistructured interviews with 47 stakeholders including those with serious illness, support team volunteers, clergy, and medical providers.

RESULTS

Stakeholders report multiple benefits to participation in the support team; themes included provision of emotional and spiritual support, extension of support to patients' family, and support complementary to medical care. Reported barriers to participation were grouped thematically as desiring to maintain a sense of independence and normalcy; limitations of volunteers were also discussed as a barrier to this model of supportive care.

CONCLUSIONS

This qualitative evaluation provides initial evidence that a support team intervention helped meet the emotional and spiritual needs of African American persons with cancer or other serious illness. Volunteer support teams merit further study as a way to improve quality of life for persons facing serious illness.