"You [God] Gotta Go Through It With Me": Black Women Navigating Spirituality During the Breast Cancer Journey.

Abstract

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.