title: Stress and coping in African American Women with chronic heart disease: a cultural cognitive coping model.
abstract: This article examines the role of stress in relation to heart disease self-care among African American women. Women described a unique stress-coping model: Stress was a cause and contributor to "bad heart" and associated with "not worrying." Family history of heart disease was used as an experiential reference scale to evaluate the severity of women's heart health. Stress attributions were associated with coping practices to manage the effect of illness through emotion-focused coping and with the physiological worsening of their condition. This model highlights opportunities to reframe stress-coping activities into culturally based heart-healthy practices for African American women.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223-0001, USA. jwarren1@uncc.edu
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Warren-Findlow
authors.forename: L Michele
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Issel
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D054521:Cultural Competency; D003469:Culture; D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000451:nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008875:Middle Aged; D016294:Models, Nursing; D008960:Models, Psychological; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012648:Self Care; D012737:Sex Factors; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States; D016387:Women's Health