Living the Golden Rule: Reciprocal Exchanges among African Americans with Cancer

Giving is receiving, and receiving is giving. This is the key finding from interviews conducted with 28 African American women and men with cancer who were active participants in dynamic relationships characterized by both giving and receiving. These participants engaged in reciprocal relationships varying in the number of persons involved, types of resources exchanged, and timing of exchange. Findings suggest the need to reconceptualize social support as caregiving and caregiving as social support. This study also points to the need to redesign intervention studies to be more inclusive of components that allow the elderly in illness-related situations to maintain their status as givers in their social networks

Coping Profiles Common to Older African American Cancer Survivors: Relationships With Quality of Life

Cancer survivors employ distinct sets of coping behaviors that vary in their associations with psychological health and quality of life. However, existing research has largely focused on white and middle class subjects

Predictors of Depression Among Older African American Cancer Patients

Depression is becoming an increasing concern in cancer patients because of its impact on quality of life. Although risk factors of having depression have been examined in the literature, there has been no research examining these factors in older African American cancer patients

Reliability and Validity of the Perspectives of Support From God Scale

Existing spiritual support scales for use with cancer survivors focus on the support believed to come from a religious community, clergy, or health care providers

Racial Differences in Outcomes of an Advance Care Planning Intervention for Dialysis Patients and Their Surrogates

Background: African Americans' beliefs about end-of-life care may differ from those of whites, but racial differences in advance care planning (ACP) outcomes are unknown

Development of the ways of helping questionnaire: A measure of preferred coping strategies for older African American cancer survivors

Although researchers have identified beneficial coping strategies for cancer patients, existing coping measures do not capture the preferred coping strategies of older African American cancer survivors. A new measure, the Ways of Helping Questionnaire (WHQ), was evaluated with 385 African American cancer survivors. Validity evidence from factor analysis resulted in 10 WHQ subscales (Others There for Me, Physical and Treatment Care Needs, Help from God, Church Family Support, Helping Others, Being Strong for Others, Encouraging My Healthy Behaviors, Others Distract Me, Learning about Cancer, and Distracting Myself). Reliability evidence was generally strong. Evidence regarding hypothesized relationships with measures of well-being and another coping measure was mixed. The WHQ’s content coverage makes it especially relevant for older African American cancer survivors

Perceptions of Support Among Older African American Cancer Survivors

To explore the perceived social support needs among older adult African American cancer survivors

Psychosocial predictors of depression among older African American cancer patients

To determine whether psychosocial factors predict depression among older African American cancer patients

Patient Satisfaction Influenced by Interpersonal Treatment and Communication for African American Men: The North Carolina–Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project (PCaP)

Prostate cancer is the second leading cause of mortality in all men, and African American men (AAM) and Jamaican men of African descent have the highest prostate cancer incidence rates in the world (American Cancer Society, 2011). Over the past 25 years, the 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer has increased for both AAM and Caucasian men to nearly 100% when diagnosed and treated in the early stages (American Cancer Society, 2011). This improved survival rate has been attributed to early diagnosis and improved treatments; however, more AAM are diagnosed in late stages (metastatic disease) than Caucasian men where treatment options are less effective and outcomes are poorer, with only a 29% 5-year survival rate (American Cancer Society, 2011)