Purpose: In 2000, 2.3 million children lived with relatives without parents present. While there are benefits to kinship care arrangements for children, several studies reveal high levels of stress and burden experienced by kinship caregivers and negative social, psychological, and physical health consequences of raising a relative's child. The care of children who live with relatives depends largely on the ability of their kinship caregivers to cope with the stress and burden that accompanies their caregiving responsibilities. One source of support mentioned by African American kinship caregivers is spirituality, however little is known about the specific ways that spirituality serves as a source of support for this population. This study examines how informal kinship caregivers define spirituality, the role spirituality plays in their lives, and how spirituality serves as a coping mechanism for informal kinship caregivers.

Method: This federally funded qualitative study, guided by grounded theory, was conducted with a sub-sample of 29 African-American female informal kinship caregivers selected from the 207 participants in the Individual and Social Protective Factors for Children in Informal Kinship Care study. Data were collected through an in-depth semi-structured interview. Open, axial and selective coding were completed using ATLAS.ti. Several strategies were used to minimize bias and increase the trustworthiness of the data interpretation: use of two coders, peer debriefings, constant comparison and questioning of the data, and member checks with research participants.

Results: Five themes emerged as caregivers' defined spirituality: (1) belief in a higher power/something greater than self, (2) connection to a higher power, (3) something within, (4) life doctrine, and (5) religious faith. Spirituality plays a major role in these caregivers' lives and for most influenced their decision to raise a relative's child. Caregivers describe various spiritual coping mechanisms that help them endure stress, including prayer, contact with church leadership and members, meditation, religious television and music, and others. The voices and experiences of the kinship caregivers in this study shaped development of a theoretical model that explicates when and how spirituality serves as a mechanism for coping with the stress and burden associated with their caregiving responsibilities. While most caregivers indicate they would have stepped in to care for their relative's child(ren) even if they did not have a spiritual life, as several caregivers stated, “it's easier with God.”

Implications: Recent research indicates that social workers and other helping professionals neglect spirituality when working with clients because they often feel ill equipped to address this area of their clients' lives. Results of this study suggest that for some African American kinship caregivers, spiritual coping mechanisms are among the most important ways that they cope with stress. For these caregivers, focusing on spirituality may be an essential step in facilitating better practice outcomes. Information learned from this study may be used to educate helping professionals about the use of spirituality as a coping mechanism and assist them in developing comfort in discussing spirituality with caregivers for whom it is an important and sustaining part of their lives.