UCLA

Background

Black women generally report high levels of spirituality. Less is known about Black women's spiritual coping with a cancer diagnosis. Persisting health disparities between Black breast cancer survivors and other racial groups necessitate examining whether spirituality can be a contextual and personal resource for Black women with breast cancer.

Aims

This qualitative study's goals were to: (1) characterize positive and negative dimensions of spirituality in a sample of Black women diagnosed with breast cancer; and (2) examine whether and how women used spirituality during their cancer experience.

Methods

Three Gatherings (i.e., culturally curated focus groups) were conducted as part of Project SOAR (Speaking Our African American Realities), a community-academic partnership. In these all-Black women Gatherings, participants (N = 37) discussed their breast cancer experience, including how spirituality played a role.

Results

Through reflexive thematic analysis, six themes were identified: (1) faith is central to my identity even through challenging times; (2) meaningful, ineffective, or non-existent support from my spiritual community; (3) grappling with spiritual discontent during breast cancer; (4) God is omnipotent; (5) spiritual anchors helped me persevere through the breast cancer journey; (6) breast cancer reflections enhanced my spiritual gratitude and growth.

Conclusions

Participants' experiences highlight the complexities of spirituality when confronting breast cancer. Many Black women reflected on the centrality of spirituality to their lives and cited spirituality as a resource and effective coping process during their cancer experience. Findings have important implications for understanding how spirituality can be incorporated to support Black women with breast cancer.