Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2013:7:1-5.
doi: 10.2174/1874434601307010001. Epub 2013 Jan 15.

Initial evidence of religious practice and belief in depressed african american cancer patients

Amy Y Zhang  1 , Faye Gary, Hui Zhu
Affiliations

Initial evidence of religious practice and belief in depressed african american cancer patients

Amy Y Zhang et al. Open Nurs J. 2013.

Abstract

Objective: This study examined spiritual coping (beliefs and practices) of depressed African American cancer patients through a comparison with depressed White cancer patients and non-depressed African American cancer patients.

Methods: Using mixed methods, 74 breast (n=41) and prostate (n=33) cancer survivors including 34 depressed and 23 nondepressed African Americans and 17 depressed Whites were interviewed. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed. Qualitative data analysis identified themes that were coded. The codes were entered into SPSS software. The Fisher's exact test was performed to examine group differences in self-reported spiritual coping.

Results: Significantly more depressed African Americans questioned God when learning of a cancer diagnosis than the non-depressed African Americans (p=.03), but they did not differ from the depressed Whites in this regard (p=.70). Significantly more depressed African Americans reported having faith in God (p=.04), reading the bible (p=.02), and conversing with God (p=.01) than did the depressed Whites. They also reported praying alone (p=.01) more frequently than the depressed Whites who, on the other hand, reported praying with others (non-family members) together for one's own health more frequently (p=.04).

Conclusions: Depression is associated with a deepening need for spirituality and it affects religious beliefs and practices more in African American than White cancer patients. Given its important role in the lives of African American cancer patients, spirituality may be utilized as a reasonable, culturally-based approach to better assess and treat depression in these patients.

Keywords: African American; cancer; depression; pray; race; religion; spirituality..

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Lee MM, Lin SS, Wrensch MZR, Adler SR, Eisenberg D. Alternative therapies used by women with breast cancer in four ethnic populations. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2000;92:42–7. - PubMed
    1. Sheldrake P. A brief history of spirituality. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub; 2007.
    1. Lackey NR, Gates MF, Brown G. African American women’s experiences with the initial discovery, diagnosis, and treatment of breast cancer. Oncol Nurs Forum. 2001;28(3):519–27. - PubMed
    1. Simon CE, Crowther M, Higgerson H. The stage-specific role of spirituality among African American Christian women throughout the breast cancer experience. Cultur Divers Ethnic Minor Psychol. 2007;13(1):26–34. - PubMed
    1. Bourjolly JN, Hirshmann KB. Similarities in coping strategies but differences in sources of support among African American women and white women coping with breast cancer. J Psychosoc Oncol. 2001;19:17–38.

LinkOut - more resources