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
. 2021 Jun;38(6):618-625.
doi: 10.1177/1049909120988280. Epub 2021 Jan 19.

Spirituality and the Illness Experience: Perspectives of African American Older Adults

Shaunna Siler  1 , Kelly Arora  2 , Katherine Doyon  1 , Stacy M Fischer  3
Affiliations

Spirituality and the Illness Experience: Perspectives of African American Older Adults

Shaunna Siler et al. Am J Hosp Palliat Care. 2021 Jun.

Abstract

Background: Disparities in hospice and palliative care (PC) for African Americans have been linked to mistrust toward the healthcare system, racial inequalities, and cultural preferences. Spirituality has been identified as important to African Americans in general. Less is known about the influence of spirituality on African American illness experiences.

Objective: The goal of this study was to understand older African Americans' perspectives on how spirituality influences chronic illness experiences to inform the development of a culturally tailored PC intervention.

Methods: In partnership with 5 churches in the Denver metropolitan area, we conducted focus groups with African American older adults (n = 50) with chronic health conditions and their family caregivers. Transcripts were analyzed using a deductive approach. The theoretical framework for this study draws on psychology of religion research.

Results: Themes referenced participants' spiritual orienting systems, spiritual coping strategies, and spiritual coping styles. Psycho-spiritual struggles, social struggles, and sources of social support were also identified. Findings suggest African Americans' spirituality influences chronic illness experiences. Participants relied on their spirituality and church community to help them cope with illness. In addition, social struggles impacted the illness experience. Social struggles included mistrust toward the healthcare system and not being connected to adequate resources. Participants expressed a need to advocate for themselves and family members to receive better healthcare. Churches were referred to as a trusted space for health resources, as well as spiritual and social support.

Keywords: African American; community engagement; faith-based; health care disparaties; older adults; palliative care; qualitative research; spirituality.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

References

    1. Ahluwalia SC, Chen C, Raaen L, et al. A systematic review in support of the national consensus project clinical practice guidelines for quality palliative care, fourth edition. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2018;56(6):831–870. - PubMed
    1. Ferrell BR, Temel JS, Temin S, Smith TJ. Integration of palliative care into standard oncology care: ASCO clinical practice guideline update summary. J Oncol Pract. 2017;13(2):119–121. - PubMed
    1. Johnson KS. Racial and ethnic disparities in palliative care. J Palliat Med. 2013;16(11):1329–1334. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Garrido MM, Harrington ST, Prigerson HG. End-of-life treatment preferences: a key to reducing ethnic/racial disparities in advance care planning? end-of-life treatment preferences. Cancer. 2014; 120(24):3981–3986. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Smith AK, McCarthy EP, Paulk E, et al. racial and ethnic differences in advance care planning among patients with cancer: impact of terminal illness acknowledgment, religiousness, and treatment preferences. J Clin Oncol. 2008;26(25):4131–4137. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources