Carolyn Y. Tubbs

‘We are survivors too’: African-American youths' experiences of coping with parental breast cancer

Objective: To explore how African‐American youth cope with the diagnosis and treatment of parental breast cancer, and to identify culturally sensitive ways to recruit and sustain participation of this vulnerable population in intervention programs.

It Has Been a Good Growing Experience for Me: Growth Experiences Among African American Youth Coping With Parental Cancer

This qualitative focus group study describes posttraumatic growth experiences of African American adolescents currently coping with parental breast cancer. Twelve adolescents participated in three focus groups assessing their experiences with parental cancer. Spontaneous accounts of posttraumatic growth were reported by all participants. A content analysis revealed reports in four of the five domains of posttraumatic growth identified by Tedeschi and Calhoun (1996) which included: greater appreciation for life, enhanced interpersonal relationships, increased sense of personal strengths, and changed priorities. An additional domain, change in health behaviors and attitudes, also emerged. These findings add important knowledge to the developing field of research in posttraumatic growth in populations where available research is scarce, especially among adolescents and racial minorities.

“They Paid No Mind to My State of Mind”: African American Breast Cancer Patients’ Experiences of Cancer Care Delivery

This qualitative study describes experiences of cancer care delivery for nine African-American breast cancer patients. Three focus groups captured participants’ experiences with the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer and parenting their children. Spontaneous accounts describing their interactions with oncology staff were reported by all breast cancer patients. Content analysis revealed five themes: interaction with physicians, power and authority of physicians, collaboration between physicians and mental health professionals, navigating the system, and involvement of the family in the treatment process. These themes may help in developing culturally sensitive training programs for oncology providers to improve the quality of cancer care.