Ethnicity and cultural models of recovery from breast cancer

Objective. Recovery narratives describe the culturally shared understandings about the ideal or desirable way to recover from an illness experience. This paper examines ethnic differences in recovery narratives among women participating in breast cancer support groups in Central Florida, USA. It compares groups serving African-American, Latina, and European American women, with the objective of better understanding the appeal of ethnic-specific illness support groups for culturally diverse populations. Design. A mixed-method study design combined qualitative and quantitative measures, including in-depth interviews, participant observation at support group meetings, collection of printed documents, and a structured survey. Results. Core elements of the recovery narrative drew from the dominant societal cancer discourse of optimism and personal transformation through adversity; however, important ethnic differences were evident in the meaning assigned to these themes. Groups gave distinctive salience to the...