Coping strategies among African American women with breast cancer.

Although coping strategies have proven vital in assisting women to adapt to a diagnosis of breast cancer, few researchers have focused on coping strategies used by African American women with breast cancer. The objectives of this study were to determine the coping strategies used by African American women with breast cancer and to explore sociodemographic variables such as age, income, education, marital status, and length of time since diagnosis on coping strategies among African American women with breast cancer. A cross-sectional design was used to study relationships among these variables. The sample consisted of 86 African American women with a diagnosis of breast cancer living in the southeastern United States. Participants were surveyed with a demographic data sheet and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire (WCQ). Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression analyses. Results indicated that positive reappraisal and seeking social support are the most commonly used coping strategies among African American women with breast cancer. No significant relationships were found among sociodemographic variables and coping strategies among African American women. Also, a comparison of our mean coping strategy scores among African American women with breast cancer are higher than the mean coping strategy scores from a previous study of mostly Caucasian women with breast cancer. Further research is needed to explore coping strategies of positive reappraisal and seeking social support as these may be important factors in how African American women survive breast cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]