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Saturday, October 31, 2009: 3:15 PM
Learning Objective 1: identify the differences in use of spirituality by African American and White cancer patients with pain.
Learning Objective 2: recognize verbal cues signifying the use of spirituality by both African American and White cancer patients.
While the last ten years has seen an increase in research into the relationship of ethnicity and spirituality in the setting of cancer, no studies were found comparing and contrasting the role of spirituality in dealing with cancer pain in African Americans and Whites. The present qualitative descriptive study investigated the similarities and differences in the use of spirituality for cancer pain between the two groups. Six focus groups, three each, with African Americans (AA) and Whites (WH) were conducted as part of a larger study to understand racial/ethnic differences in cancer pain treatment decision-making. The Model of Integrated Spirituality (Buck, 2006) provided the theoretical framework for analyzing the narratives. Forty two individuals completed the focus groups (AA=21, WH=21). Mean age was 55.5 years, 48% were males. Two investigators independently coded the data for frequency, specificity, and extensiveness. After in-depth line by line discussion, three main themes pertaining to spirituality were explicated: 1) Antecedents to the Use of Spirituality: Pain/Distress 2) Attributes of the Use of Spirituality: Active/Existential, 3) Outcomes of the Use of Spirituality: Mobilization of Resources. While all of the themes were present in both groups, African Americans consistently mentioned more use of spirituality than the Whites except on the subtheme of ‘not dwelling on the cancer’. African Americans made reference to the use of prayer twice as many times as Whites. However, more Whites made casual reference to God’s name. The findings suggest that the use of spirituality in the setting of cancer pain is culturally shaped. Clinicians should recognize different concerns and sensitivities in the uses of spirituality between African Americans and Whites and incorporate these differences in implementing transcultural models of cancer pain management.