In the United States, breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer after skin and is the second leading cause of cancer death in the nation (American Cancer Society, 2023). Despite the higher incidence of breast cancers amongst White women, African American women are dying at much higher rates from breast cancer. The American Cancer Society reports that Black women have a 4% lower incidence rate of breast cancer compared to White women but have a 40% higher breast cancer death rate (2022). The highest rates of breast cancer mortality in the nation are in the District of Columbia (33.6 per 100,000) where 45.4% of the population is African American (American Cancer Society, 2022), (World Population Review, 2023). This large disparity in mortality is noted to be a result of many social- ecological determinants that effect breast cancer risk, incidence, and mortality in African American women in the USA (Williams et al., 2016). At the individual level, African American women are more likely to have sub-types of tumors that are more aggressive and resistant to treatment (Williams et al., 2016). They are also known to experience higher levels of waned immunity due to the weathering effect (to be explained later) which results in an overall decrease in resilience when fighting chronic illnesses (Phelan & Link, 2015). To create resilience at the individual level as it relates to prevention,I proposed creating community workshops that are aimed at educating women on individual risk and providing resources on prevention screening. To create resilience for survivors, I proposed creating workshops that promote mental well-being activities such as, meditation, yoga, journalism, good sleep practices, etc. At the relationship level, discrimination has resulted in African American women to experience higher levels of social isolation, where socially isolated women are 2x likely to die from breast cancer (Coughlin, 2019). To create resilience at the relationship level, I plan to create community support groups throughout DC that are devoted to African American women with a breast cancer diagnosis. I also plan to create support groups for family and friends of survivors to aid in strengthening connections for survivors within their personal social networks. At the community level, African American communities’ incidence of late-stage breast cancer diagnosis is much higher due to poor access to healthcare facilities (Dai, 2010). To create resilience at the community level, I would suggested gaining community partnerships that will aid in creating greater access to social and healthcare programs to build community resilience. This includes better access to counseling services, rehab services, mammographic screening services, financial support services, etc. At the societal level, African American women are known to experience the weathering effect, defined as experiences of waned immunity and premature health decline due to general social disadvantage (Phelan & Link, 2015). To create resilience at this level, I would like to propose creating lobbyist groups that will push legislators to create better access to health care facilities in Black communities to build societal resilience.
The title of my intervention will be: Breaking Barriers, Healing Hearts: Empowering Black Women in the Fight Against Breast Cancer
Please see the attached infographic I created for this mock up intervention.
References:
American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures for African American/Black
People 2022-2024. Atlanta: American Cancer Society, 2022
Breast cancer statistics: How common is breast cancer?. American Cancer Society. (2023). https://www.cancer.org/cancer/...s-breast-cancer.html
District of columbia population 2023. World Population Review. (2023). https://worldpopulationreview....-columbia-population
Coughlin, S.S. Social determinants of breast cancer risk, stage, and survival. Breast Cancer Res Treat 177, 537–548 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10549-019-05340-7
Dai, D. (2010). Black residential segregation, disparities in spatial access to health care facilities, and late-stage breast cancer diagnosis in Metropolitan Detroit. Health & Place, 16(5), 1038–1052. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2010.06.012
Link, B. G., & Phelan, J. (1995). Social conditions as fundamental causes of disease. Journal of Health and Social Behavior, 80–94. https://doi.org/10.2307/2626958
Williams, D.R., Mohammed, S.A. and Shields, A.E. (2016), Understanding and effectively addressing breast cancer in African American women: Unpacking the social context. Cancer, 122: 2138-2149. https://doi.org/10.1002/cncr.29935
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