Sharing Our Own Experience

“Being an advocate for yourself is the most important thing you can do for yourself in this lifetime, regardless of what your diagnosis is.”

This is just one of many powerful insights from a major research study we conducted over the past year: SHARING OUR OWN EXPERIENCE: A Qualitative Study with Black Women Diagnosed with Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.  We are pleased to let you know that you can now access the report or order an advance copy.

Click to Read Report and Order a Free Copy

Triple-negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is a subtype of breast cancer that is disproportionately prevalent among Black women. In the US, Black women face a three-fold higher risk of being diagnosed with TNBC and are less likely to receive guideline-concordant treatment for TNBC. As a result, Black women are more likely to die from the disease than White women.  

SHARE is dedicated to serving as a resource for diverse and under-resourced communities. To understand and amplify the voices of Black women diagnosed with TNBC, SHARE teamed up with Dr. Tisha Felder, PhD, MSW, who served as the Principal Investigator, and her colleague Dr. Lucy Ingram, PhD, MPH, to conduct a qualitative research study. Twenty Black women diagnosed with early or metastatic breast cancer were interviewed, and themes were identified and interpreted across the interviews.  

Eight major themes and 15 recommendations emerged from the deeply personal stories shared by these brave women diagnosed with TNBC. We also invited participants in the study to participate in an on-stage panel at Getting Our Fair SHARE Conference to End Health Disparities 2023 where the trauma and injustice of these women’s’ experiences was felt by all.

Working on this study has had an immense impact on the participants, researchers, and the SHARE team who participated in every step of the process. We could not have imagined how profound this experience would become for us all. We are grateful to Gilead and especially Shannon Weber, Associate Director, Public Affairs – Global Oncology Corporate Giving, for her visionary leadership and faith in our organization to conduct this research.  

At SHARE, we believe in the power of people helping people, and we anticipate that this qualitative study will serve as a critical step toward addressing the needs of Black Women diagnosed with TNBC and bridging the vast gap in patient outcomes based on race.