Resilience in the face of serious illness among chronically ill African Americans in later life.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this work was to examine older African Americans' philosophies about their chronic illnesses and how those philosophies affected chronic illness management.


METHODS
Three to five in-depth interviews were conducted over the course of several years with 38 respondents between the ages of 65 and 91. Both open-ended and semistructured questions were asked.


RESULTS
Respondents demonstrated determination, perseverance, and tenacity no matter how serious their illnesses were. Racism was instrumental in shaping the responses of these African Americans to their illnesses through cultural values that emphasized independence, spirituality, and survival. Respondents demonstrated a resilient philosophy as they faced disabling illness.


CONCLUSIONS
This research attests to the importance of examining racism in the analysis of how older ethnic minorities live with chronic illness, as it provides the context for understanding the development of culturally specific philosophies about illness. Resilience, as a culturally specific philosophy, is an important adjunct to chronic illness management in later life, and more needs to be understood about the dimensions that shape it by cultural group.
Institute for Health and Aging, School of Nursing, University of California, San Francisco, Box 0646, San Francisco, CA 94143-0646, USA. becker@itsa.ucsf.edu
Gay
G
Becker
Edwina
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Newsom
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice