Mkuu Rahma S, Harvey Idethia S, Brown Edna, Spears Erica C, Jira Miryan G, Johnson Kenne' L, Montour Tyra, Alexander Janae
Department of Health and Kinesiology, College of Education and Human Development, Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research, Texas A & M University, Gilchrist Building, 4243 TAMU, College Station, TX, 77843-4243, USA.
Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics, College of Medicine, Institute of Child Health Policy, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2022 Apr;9(2):566-575. doi: 10.1007/s40615-021-00986-w. Epub 2021 Feb 10.
Recognizing that spiritual and religious beliefs are personal and vary within communities, the purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the influence of these beliefs on experiences with breast cancer care and social support among African American Christian breast cancer survivors.
Forty-seven African American breast cancer survivors participated in focus groups (n = 7) in three northeastern urban cities. We used thematic analyses to identify major themes.
Three themes emerged relating to how spirituality influenced participants' cancer journeys: (1) struggling with God, (2) reclaiming my power, and (3) needing religious social support. Participants described the rhythmic flow of their spiritual beliefs as they navigated their lived experiences during diagnosis, treatment, and post-treatment. Spirituality was intimately intertwined with their illness experience as they grappled with their health and well-being.
Participants used spirituality as an avenue to cope and navigate through their diagnosis and treatment. These spiritual relationships created "church families" and provided the survivors' access to cancer support groups, financial support, and therapeutic support. Our findings support faith-based approaches to health promotion and call for more studies to understand the influence of religion on health.
鉴于精神和宗教信仰是个人化的且在不同群体中存在差异，本定性研究旨在探讨这些信仰对非裔美国基督教乳腺癌幸存者的乳腺癌护理体验和社会支持的影响。
47名非裔美国乳腺癌幸存者参与了东北部三个城市的焦点小组（共7个小组）。我们采用主题分析法来确定主要主题。
出现了三个与精神性如何影响参与者的癌症历程相关的主题：（1）与上帝抗争，（2）重获力量，（3）需要宗教社会支持。参与者描述了在诊断、治疗和治疗后经历生活时其精神信仰的节奏性变化。当他们努力应对自身健康和幸福时，精神性与他们的疾病经历紧密相连。
参与者将精神性作为应对诊断和治疗的途径。这些精神关系形成了“教会家庭”，为幸存者提供了获得癌症支持小组、经济支持和治疗支持的机会。我们的研究结果支持基于信仰的健康促进方法，并呼吁开展更多研究以了解宗教对健康的影响。
