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Spiritual and Religious Coping Values and Beliefs Among African American Caregivers: A Qualitative Study

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Gracie Boswell

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Monique D. Cohen

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Using a sample of 303 African American caregivers, this study examines if and how religious affiliation, involvement, and spiritual beliefs help caregivers in providing care to older relatives. Results show that 7% to 22% of all groups of caregivers (primary, secondary, tertiary, and tertiary only) reported receiving help from their places of worship. When church support was provided, it was mostly emotional support (i.e., advice and encouragement). An overwhelming percentage, between 78% and 86%, of all caregivers indicated that their spiritual beliefs helped them "a lot" with giving care. Through qualitative analysis, four domains of how spiritual beliefs helped caregivers emerged from the data. These four domains, in order of frequency, include the strength to endure (45%), a sense of duty and reciprocity toward those who had cared for them (24%), faith for encouragement and inspiration (24%), and gratification to foster positive feelings about giving care (7%).

Key Words: caregiving • spiritual beliefs • religious affiliation

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