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Purpose: To explore in a sample of older African Americans how religious songs were used to cope with stressful life events and to explore the religious beliefs associated with these songs. Design and Methods: Sixty-five African American older adults residing in the Southeastern US participated in a qualitative descriptive study involving criterion sampling, open-ended semi-structured interviews, qualitative content analysis, and descriptive statistics. Results: Religion expressed through song was a coping strategy for participants experiencing stressful life events who described feelings of being comforted, strengthened, able to endure, uplifted, and able to find peace by turning to the types of religious songs described here. Five types of songs were used including those evoking "Thanksgiving and Praise," "Instructive," "Memory of Forefathers," "Communication with God," and "Life after Death." Implications: Religious songs are an important form of religious expression important to the mental health of older African Americans. The incorporation of religious songs into spiritual care interventions might enhance the cultural relevance of mental health interventions in this population.

Background: Much of the research on African-Americans' HPV vaccine acceptance has largely focused on racial/ethnic differences related to cognitive, socio-economical, and structural factors that contribute to differences in HPV vaccine acceptance and completion. A growing body of literature suggest that cultural factors, such as mistrust of healthcare providers (HCPs) and the healthcare system, religion, and social norms related to appropriate sexual behaviors, also plays a prominent role in their HPV vaccine acceptance. However, these studies were limited in their use of theoretical approaches necessary to conceptualize and operationalize culture. Objective: To explore the influence of culture on African-American mothers' and daughters' HPV vaccine acceptance using the PEN-3, a culturally-centered conceptual framework. Methods: Grounded theory techniques were used to explore cultural factors that influenced the acceptance of the HPV vaccine among African-American mothers (n = 28) and their daughters (n = 34). Results: Positive attitudes towards vaccination stemmed from beliefs that the HPV vaccine has cancer prevention benefits and that vaccinations in general protected against infectious diseases. Negative attitudes stemmed from beliefs that the HPV vaccine was too new, not effective, daughters were too young, and that vaccines were not a one-size-fits-all intervention. Majority of mothers and daughters indicated that their religious doctrine did not impede their HPV vaccination decisions. For a few mothers, religious beliefs could not be separated from their HPV vaccination decisions and ultimately deterred HPV vaccine acceptance. HCP recommendations were valued however mothers were often dissatisfied with the detail of information communicated. Support networks provided both positive and negative types of social support to mothers and daughters. The media highlighted the cancer prevention benefits of the HPV vaccine and unintentionally communicated negative information of the HPV vaccine, which deterred HPV vaccine acceptance. Conclusion: Study findings can inform the development of culturally appropriate interventions that advances the evidence on cervical cancer prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To increase our understanding about the health beliefs of African‐American parents and their daughters toward HPV infection and HPV vaccine acceptance. Methods: The Health Belief Model was used as a guiding framework. Principles of grounded theory, theoretical sampling, and constant comparison analysis were used to qualitatively analyze data generated from personal interviews of African‐American parents (n = 30) and their 12‐ to 17‐year‐old daughters (n = 34). Results: Mothers and daughters perceived low susceptibility to HPV infection and perceived the HPV vaccine as beneficial in protecting against genital warts and cervical cancer. Compared to daughters, parents placed particular emphasis on the vaccine's protection against genital warts. A major HPV vaccine acceptance barrier among parents and daughters was the politicization of the HPV vaccine by government figures. In addition, concerns about unknown side effects, safety, and effectiveness of HPV vaccination emerged. Cues to action varied among parents and daughters, and self‐efficacy was higher among parents than daughters. Conclusion: Understanding the health beliefs that promote HPV vaccine acceptance, while identifying and addressing beliefs that are barriers among parents and daughters, will assist in the development of appropriate HPV vaccine promotion initiatives for African‐American parents and daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines several sociocultural factors such as emotional support, religious activities and cancer stigma and their influence on the quality of life of older African-American cancer survivors. Topics discussed include the emergence of social support and being religious as important factors that influence the quality of life of the cancer survivors and the use of descriptive statistics in analyzing the data gathered from 77 African-American cancer survivors.

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Background: The alleviation of cancer health disparities makes it necessary to understand and apply the knowledge about cultural behaviors in the design of interventions deemed culturally appropriate., Objective: This review aimed to provide an overview of the ways in which strategies were used to facilitate the cultural appropriateness of psychosocial interventions delivered to African American cancer survivors., Methods: An electronic and hand search of 5 major databases was performed to identify intervention studies that targeted African American cancer patients/survivors 50 years or older. We review researchers' efforts to achieve culturally appropriate intervention research by evaluating whether peripheral, evidential, linguistic, constituent-involving, or sociocultural strategies were used., Results: Only 6 intervention studies met the criteria for inclusion in this review, with each study using 1 or more strategies to achieve cultural appropriateness. However, few studies incorporated sociocultural factors in the intervention design., Conclusion: Strategies to achieve cultural appropriateness in psychosocial interventions targeting older African Americans have focused more on enhancing recruitment and retention and less on the inclusion of sociocultural concepts into the content of the intervention., Implications for Practice: Intervention studies delivered to older African American cancer patients/survivors should aim to incorporate those concepts of relevance to the population and likely to facilitate healthcare outcomes.