ABOUT THE STUDY
Specific Aims
The specific aims of this R03 study are as follows:
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Describe the meaning and structure of AA depressive experience in the context of living with cancer; |
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Compare depressed and nondepressed AA cancer patients to identify beliefs and attitudes about having cancer, which are associated with depression; |
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Identify manifestations of AA depression and create a symptom catalogue that can be developed into a culturally sensitive screening instrument for assessing AA cancer patient’s depression in a future study. |
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The specific aims address three fundamental questions:
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What constitutes AA cancer patients’ depressive experience? |
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What kinds of beliefs and attitudes are related to depression? |
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How does depression manifest itself in AA cancer patients? |
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Using a mixed study design, AA cancer patients will be compared by the level of depression to identify belief factors associated with depression. Depressed AA and white cancer patients will be compared to identify unique depressive symptoms for African Americans and create a symptom catalogue that inventories the reported symptoms. The catalogue will be developed into a screening tool in a future study to refer African Americans with early signs of depression to a formal diagnostic evaluation.
This study is innovative in that this is the first study to investigate AA depressive experience in the context of cancer survival. |
