It's easier with God: Spirituality as a coping mechanism for African-American female kinship caregivers

This study offered an in-depth examination of the meaning and role of spirituality in the lives of a small group of African-American female informal kinship caregivers. The study utilized a qualitative grounded theory approach to analyze cross-sectional data that were collected using an in-depth interview protocol. The Africentric perspective provided a coherent conceptual framework for understanding the importance and empowering effect of spirituality in the lives of some African-Americans. Three broad research questions were investigated: First, How do African-American female informal kinship caregivers define "spirituality"? Second, What role does spirituality play in the lives of African-American female informal kinship caregivers, in their decision to become informal kinship caregivers and other decisions they make as informal kinship caregivers? Third, What are the ways that spirituality acts as a coping mechanism for African-American female informal kinship caregivers?; Findings from this study indicated that spirituality had multiple meanings for caregivers and fulfilled multiple roles in the lives of caregivers. More specifically, caregivers utilized spirituality or spiritual practice to cope with stressful events that occurred in their lives. This study provided an initial theoretical understanding of the process caregivers undergo when utilizing spiritual practices to cope with those stressful events. The development of this theoretical understanding was grounded in the voices and experiences of informal kinship caregivers.; The knowledge gained from this study has implications for social work education, practice, and research. This information could be included in the social work curriculum to increase student's knowledge of the meaning and role of spirituality for some African-American caregivers and to better prepare students for practice with this population. The results learned from this study could also prepare practitioners to develop and provide services that respect and acknowledge spirituality when it is relevant and important to those served. Findings from this study may add to the sparse research on informal kinship caregivers and the resources or strengths they utilize to combat the risks they face. Finally, information learned from this study may also lead to new and different ways of measuring spirituality and inspire future research in this area.