Stressful Life Events and Behavior Change: A Qualitative Examination of African American Women’s

We qualitatively assessed how life stressors affected African American women’s participation in a weight reduction program. A sample of 9 women, who completed a behavioral lifestyle intervention, participated in individual, structured, in-depth interviews. Life stressors, ranging from personal illness to changes in employment status, had varied effects on participation. Some women coped with life stressors by using them as a motivational tool to improve their own health, while others reported limited ability to devote time to attend meetings or engage in the prescribed lifestyle changes due to life stressors. A critical key to improving weight loss outcomes for African American women may be using intervention strategies that teach positive coping skills to alter maladaptive responses to life stressors. Key Words: African American Women, Life Stressor, Weight Loss, Coping, and Qualitative Research Stressful events occur in routine life and demand a certain amount of attention, time, and effort. How one copes with stressful events may vary based on a variety of factors including age, gender, socioeconomic status, and race (Tanyi & Werner, 2007). Coping skills may also vary based on the perceived severity of the stress, the resources available to deal with the stressful event, and the perceived relative importance of othe