This study presents the results of semistructured interviews conducted with 18 African American Christian women regarding the role of spirituality throughout their breast cancer experiences. The spiritual themes relevant for phases of the breast cancer experience are identified. Analysis resulted in the identification of 11 codes and 5 subcodes that corresponded to the diagnosis, treatment, and posttreatment phases of the breast cancer experience. Most of the survivors indicated that their spirituality and faith assisted them throughout the breast cancer experience. Discussion focuses on the spiritual resources used by the participants at the different stages in the breast cancer experience. Attention is given to implications for how professionals can use these resources to assist African American women coping with breast cancer.

This study compared risks and protective factors for acquiring symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) between African-American (n 5 299) and European-American (n 5 206) student volunteers 3 months after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita (H-KR). Respondents retrospectively provided information on peritraumatic emotional reactions

This article addresses the role of culture in breast cancer screening behavior among African American, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian American/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic/ Latina women. It reviews cultural beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge and their relative influence on women's decisions regarding health tests. The article explores how to build on these cultural values, simultaneously mediating their barrier effects. Building on cultural explanatory models of health behavior, suggestions for incorporating culture into early detection strategies for ethnically and racially diverse, underserved women are provided. In addition, the article offers four practice principles that can be used with all of the groups: inclusion and use of indigenous support; cross-application of approaches for diverse populations; honor and incorporation of culture; and attention to language, literacy, and cultural information.

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) represents a disorder that has the same symptoms as post traumatic stress disorder, but results from vicariously experiencing trauma through association with those directly encountering the traumatic event(s). This exploratory study examined STS in 21 oncology social workers who were members of the Association of Oncology Social Workers. The results of this study revealed that oncology social workers experienced compassion fatigue and burnout and that these variables were inversely related to compassion satisfaction. Other relationships between emotional involvement, ability to separate work from home, level of licensure, personal loss, and empathetic responsiveness were also examined.

This article reports the findings of a study that examined the role of mentoring in thecareers of African American women in the administration of social work education.A focus of the study was the ways in which race and gender influence mentoringexperiences. The findings suggest that although the participants were successful intheir careers, mentoring opportunities were not a part of their early careerexperiences. They also indicate that race and gender play important roles in the type ofmentoring experienced by African American women in social work academia.