Faith as a Mechanism for Health Promotion among Rural African American Prostate Cancer Survivors: A Qualitative Examination

Raymond D. Adams and Waldo E. Johnson
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Raymond D. Adams: Department of Social Work, Psychology & Counseling, College of Education, Humanities, and Behavioral Sciences, Alabama A&M University, Normal, AL 35810 1, USA
Waldo E. Johnson: Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice, The University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637 2, USA

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: Conceptualized using critical race theory as a theoretical underpinning, this study analyzed the lived experiences of older, rural, African American male prostate cancer (hereafter referenced as PrCA) survivors’ faith and health promotion practices within Northeast Louisiana. Qualitative data from journaling, observations, and semi-structured interviews were obtained from ten older, African American male PrCA survivors residing in four rural parishes of Louisiana. The data analysis employed a two-stage approach known as Polkinghorne’s analysis of narratives and narrative analysis using an art-based methodological approach. Framed as composite character counterstories, survivors’ narratives revealed how survivors made sense of and gave meaning to their PrCA diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and survivorship. Specifically, their counterstories indicate that centering and honoring the unique and often taken-for-granted perspectives of older, rural, African American male PrCA survivors offered a deeper understanding of the multiple factors influencing their quality of life, as well as the sociostructural mechanisms impacting their survivorship care. Faith was examined as both a secular and sacred source of support that these men viewed as central to the acceptance of their diagnosis, treatment, recovery, and survivorship.

Keywords: psychosocial well-being; rurality; qualitative study; social work; African Americans; counterstories (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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