Spiritual-Based Intervention for African American Women with Breast Cancer

Because social support has been shown to have value in decreasing morbidity and possibility in increasing length of survival in cancer patients, the objectives of the study are: 1) to utilize a network of oncology services, churches, and community organizations to recruit African American women diagnosed with breast cancer for project participation; 2) to implement the spiritual-based intervention; 3) to assess the efficacy of the intervention to positively impact treatment-related outcomes; and 4) to refine the intervention for broader dissemination. The intervention involved an experimental/control group design approach. The experimental support group (intervention group) received the Spiritual-based support intervention. There were two control groups: control group A included participants in a traditional support group model and control group B included individuals who received the standard care consisting of no additional structured support. Data were gathered through a pre-test at baseline (T1), a post test at the conclusion of the 7 month intervention (T2), and at a three-month follow-up at the end of the support group sessions (T3). Findings suggest a positive influence of the spiritual support group on mental well-being, with the impact diminishing over time.