Development and validation of measures of religious involvement and the cancer experience among African Americans.

Research indicates that African Americans diagnosed with cancer tend to use religion in coping. However less is known about the specific role that religion plays in the coping process. Based on previous qualitative work, five instruments were developed to assess the role of religious involvement in cancer coping: God as helper, God as healer, Faith in healing, Control over cancer and New perspective. The instruments were administered to 100 African Americans with cancer. Each exhibited high internal reliability, and concurrent and discriminant validity. These instruments may have applied value for the development of church-based cancer support/survivorship interventions.