title: "You need a song to bring you through": the use of religious songs to manage stressful life events.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore in a sample of older African Americans how religious songs were used to cope with stressful life events and to explore the religious beliefs associated with these songs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-five African American older adults residing in the Southeastern US participated in a qualitative descriptive study involving criterion sampling, open-ended semi-structured interviews, qualitative content analysis, and descriptive statistics.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Religion expressed through song was a coping strategy for participants experiencing stressful life events who described feelings of being comforted, strengthened, able to endure, uplifted, and able to find peace by turning to the types of religious songs described here. Five types of songs were used including those evoking Thanksgiving and Praise, Instructive, Memory of Forefathers, Communication with God, and Life after Death.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Religious songs are an important form of religious expression important to the mental health of older African Americans. The incorporation of religious songs into spiritual care interventions might enhance the cultural relevance of mental health interventions in this population.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7460, USA. jhamilto@email.unc.edu
authors.forename: Jill B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Hamilton
authors.forename: Margarete
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandelowski
authors.forename: Angelo D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Mansi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Agarwal
authors.forename: Harold G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Koenig
mesh_terms: D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001294:Attitude to Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012069:Religion and Psychology; D063346:Singing; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires