Losing Faith and Using Faith: Older African Americans Discuss Spirituality, Religious Activities, and Depression

Background and Objectives Older African Americans are often under diagnosed and under treated for depression. Given that older African Americans are more likely than whites to identify spirituality as important in depression care, we sought to understand how spirituality may play a role in the way they conceptualize and deal with depression in order to inform possible interventions aimed at improving the acceptability and effectiveness of depression treatment. Design Cross-sectional qualitative interview study of older African American primary care patients. Participants and Setting Forty-seven older African American patients recruited from primary care practices in the Baltimore, MD area, interviewed in their homes. Measurements Semi-structured interviews lasting approximately 60 minutes. Interviews were transcribed and themes related to spirituality in the context of discussing depression were identified using a grounded-theory approach. Main Results Participants in this study held a faith-based explanatory model of depression with a particular emphasis on the cause of depression and what to do about it. Specifically, participants described depression as being due to a “loss of faith” and faith and spiritual/religious activities were thought to be empowering in the way they can work together with medical treatments to provide the strength for healing to occur. Conclusions The older African Americans in this study described an intrinsically spiritual explanatory model of depression. Addressing spirituality in the clinical encounter may lead to improved detection of depression and treatments that are more congruent with patient’s beliefs and values.