Art groups for marginalized women with breast cancer

Professionally led support groups can significantly reduce distress, trauma symptoms, and pain for women with breast cancer. Despite the known benefits, women with breast cancer from marginalized groups tend not to participate in support groups. It is important to address barriers that prevent their participation and to identify types of support groups that appeal to as wide a range of women as possible. For this study, we interviewed women with breast cancer from marginalized groups in the San Francisco Bay Area (United States). We asked them about social, cultural, and psychological barriers that prevent participation in support groups, and about the potential of art groups to overcome these barriers. Our qualitative analysis of the interviews yielded findings that suggest a model for a type of support group that could make the benefits of support groups available to more women with breast cancer.