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Prayer and Fellowship Promote Healthy Outcomes

Dr. Diane Brown and project coordinator Cheryl Miree are helping design better treatment and support programs for cancer patients.

Many anecdotal examples point to the healing power of prayer, but two studies by Diane Brown, PhD, are providing significant scientific evidence that breast cancer patients have better mental health and quality of life measures when they participate in social and spiritual support programs.

This is particularly true for African-American women who are twice as likely as white women to die of breast cancer, but may not readily utilize existing resources and services, said Dr. Brown. A National Cancer Institute grant is helping her identify unmet needs of African-American patients with breast cancer and a U.S. Department of Defense grant is showing the effect of prayer and spirituality on health.

The first project, called “Minority and Underserved Cancer Survivors,” collects data from African-American and Caucasian cancer survivors to compare their use of community and social support services. Preliminary evidence shows that many African-American women are reluctant to admit publicly that they have cancer, and therefore, have many unmet needs including emotional support and help with simple day-to-day routines related to their medical treatments.

A partnership with the cancer ministry program at Greater Grace Temple of the Apostolic Faith allows Dr. Brown to interface with community members to get a broad understanding of how people are facing cancer and cancer issues. “Because of this reluctance to disclose medical information, we wanted to talk to cancer survivors outside the medical setting, too,” Dr. Brown said. “Many people are more comfortable confronting their illness in their own church, in their own community.”

Along that same line of research, Dr. Brown has also been awarded a three-year Department of Defense grant to study whether prayer, spirituality and medical science improve the quality of life of African-American women diagnosed with breast cancer. A non-denominational program has been developed in conjunction with medical experts, cancer survivors, local church pastors and support group facilitators.

Three groups of cancer patients will be compared: those who participate in a spiritual support group, those in a traditional support group, and those in no support group. Although data are still being collected for analysis, preliminary evidence shows that African-American women who attended the faith-based meetings had more frequent attendance, bonded with other participants, formed more friendships, participated in gift-giving, and scored favorably on measures related to anxiety, depression and quality of life.

A medical sociologist, Dr. Brown has WSU faculty appointments in community medicine, sociology, and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute. She is a research professor in the College of Urban, Labor and Metropolitan Affairs. She believes spiritual support is an important mechanism for enhancing mental health for cancer patients. “There are definite body-mind connections, and an individual’s state of mind and spirituality can affect health and medical outcomes,” she said. “Our findings in these studies will help us design the most effective programs and support systems for patients.”

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