African American Breast Cancer Survivorship Program to Reduce Breast Cancer Mortality Disparities

Issues:African American(AA) women are more likely to die from breast cancer(BC) than Caucasian women and exhibit higher mortality rates from comorbid conditions.  AA women are inadequately represented in research that suggest exercise increases health benefits and quality of life for BC survivors(BCS) and the interventions are not culturally appropriate.

Description:An 8-week lifestyle modification feasibility and accessibility intervention utilized culturally appropriate nutrition and physical activity to improve physical and psychosocial well-being, while expanding self-efficacy and social support networks.

Lessons Learned:We aimed to empower participants to become actively involved in their health, while changing eating and exercise attitudes and behaviors.  The participants’ primary objective was to gain social support and build camaraderie among their peers, which was one of our secondary goals.  Participant feedback included: longer-term follow-up, longer intervention, increase camaraderie, more frequent cooking demonstrations, opportunities to mentor other survivors and teach Breast Self-Awareness workshops, and programming to address the more practical concerns of BCS.  They praised the program and the team, but suggested that future leadership teams include survivors. Overall, participants desired a more comprehensive program and direct involvement.  

Recommendations:This intervention utilized The Social Cognitive Theory to implement behavioral and health outcome change associated with obesity and BC.  Few studies have addressed the multi-faceted factors associated with these disparities, we aimed to provide data for future interventions and serve as a foundation for policy creation.  An understanding of AA BCS needs will aid in the development of more culturally specific interventions that may increase and sustain behavior change and health outcomes.