African American Women Coping with Breast Cancer (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9798348202408)

This research examines the coping strategies and resources of African American women

with breast cancer and how they relate to the relatively low rates of utilization of cancer support

groups by this segment of the population. Cancer support groups have proven to be an effective

coping intervention. They have been linked with improved psychosocial functioning and

reductions in self-reported physical pain (Fawzy, Kemeny, et al., 1990; Goodwin et al., 2001;

Spiegel, Bloom, & Yalom, 1981) as well as with increased survival time for participants (Fawzy

et al., 1993; Richardson, Shelton, Krailo, & Levine, 1990; Spiegel, Bloom, Kraemer, & Gottheil,

1989).

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women of all races and

ethnicities in the United States. Currently, a woman in this country has a one in seven chance of

developing invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. Approximately 211,240 new cases of invasive

breast cancer are expected to occur nationally in 2005 (American Cancer Society, 2005). An

additional 58,490 cases of in situ breast cancer (cancer confined to the duct) are also expected to

be diagnosed. The incidence rates of this disease have continued to increase since 1980 as

improvements in screening technologies have made possible the detection of breast cancers often

too small to be felt.