Non-Profit 501c(3) Organization
Lil’ SISTAAH Talk! targets young women, pre-mammogram age to help them understand breast cancer. Participants ‘talk’ with survivors in intimate settings to get credible breast health information. The goal is replacing fear with empowerment to help our little sistaahs establish breast-healthy behaviors, which lead to breast cancer risk reduction and early detection.
The first half of the curriculum is interactive and teaches young women basic breast anatomy, how to spot changes, risk factors and the importance of knowing family history. General information is taught on what a mammogram is and the what, when, where and how's of what to expect when you come of age.
The second component of the curriculum addresses good nutrition and physical activity as it relates to cancer prevention and risk reduction as outlined according to the guidelines of the American Cancer Society. This is workshop is hands on and includes role play to evaluate content comprehension and self efficacy.
SISTAAH Circle is an opportunity for new and long-term survivors and their supporters to meet for conversation and camaraderie. The Circle presents information, provides comfort, teaches coping skills and reduces anxiety. It is a place to share common concerns and receive emotional support. We believe this support encourages hope and fosters strength and healing. All who gather are encouraged to freely express their own ideas and feelings. In a confidential setting, members give and receive respectful, honest, and positive feedback.
Most SISTAAH Talk meetings begin or end with a Circle.
Fight Like a Girl is advocacy (local, state, national) for women at risk for and living with breast cancer. The goal is to ensure that fewer Black women will develop and die from breast cancer. Our early advocacy focused on awareness campaigns and mammography screening. Our current work addresses the systemic issues at the heart of the breast cancer epidemic by emphasizing risk reduction for individuals, families, and communities.
Advocacy efforts are carried out throughout the year.
Ask an Expert is an opportunity to talk face-to-face with breast cancer health care providers (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists, nutritionists, physical therapist and others) to learn about diagnostic tests, treatments, complementary therapies, nutritional guidance, massage therapy, stress reduction, and much more.
Experts are invited to SISTAAH Talk meetings four times a year.
e-Connect links members to information technology. Members unfamiliar with using the Internet and mobile apps are introduced to Face Book, Twitter, Snap Chat, various websites, and other electronic communication channels. Accessing educational materials that help survivors understand their clinical data, solicit support, and find resources is included.
Use of information technology is highlighted during most SISTAAH Talk meetings.
Let’s Get Physical focuses on the benefits of physical activity in breast cancer prevention, treatment, and recovery. Participants take part in exercises targeting cardiovascular health, flexibility, muscular strength, and muscular endurance. Symptoms, which may limit physical movement, such as lymphedema (swelling in an arm), arthralgia (pain in a joint) and neuropathy (numbness or weakness), are monitored and general safety is addressed during each session.
This program is offered four times a year.
MyPlate Palooza is a nutrition education program focused on the USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion, MyPlate, a food circle (i.e. a pie chart) depicting a place setting with a plate and glass divided into five food groups. During the Palooza, participants visit food stations for each food group to build the best plate and take a picture of their finished products. During this experiential learning event, plates are judged for completeness, portion size, and variety. Prizes are awarded for the best plate.
This program is offered four times a year.
The Sistaah's Pink Hat Tea is an annual celebration of survivors and their supporters. This afternoon ladies’ social occasion is an opportunity to dress up, wear pink hats, and express beauty in the face of breast cancer treatment effects. The pink hat concept was developed so that survivors experiencing hair loss could feel as pretty as women with hair. The fund raising event presents keynote speakers (and sometimes fashion shows/entertainment) highlighting recent trends in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
This program is offered once a year.
Health education and social support, which are SISTAAH Talk cornerstones, are essential to the cancer journey. But education and support are not enough; you need faith. You Can-Cer-Vive focuses on spiritual practices (such as reading scripture or inspirational texts; performing devotionals; practicing meditation; praying, and/or fasting) to help breast cancer survivors: cope with a diagnosis; deal with treatment and its side effects; and adhere to lifestyle changes needed to prevent recurrence. The program targets the newly diagnosed and those in-treatment as well as post-treatment. Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction techniques to improve depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and other outcomes, are also included.
This program is offered throughout the year.
Lil’ SISTAAH Talk targets college-aged women to help them understand breast cancer. Young women ‘talk’ with survivors in intimate settings to get credible breast health information. The goal is replacing fear with empowerment to help our little sistaahs establish breast-healthy behaviors, which lead to breast cancer risk reduction and early detection.
This program is offered twice a year.
Table Talk is the online version of SISTAAH Circle. It is informal conversation as if talking with a girlfriend at a kitchen table. Breast cancer survivors and their supporters communicate via video or audio channels through the GoToMeeting app on the SISTAAH Talk website Contact Us page. Discussion topics include: resilience, faith, fear, coping, intimacy & sexual health, talking with your kids, and other issues related to a breast cancer diagnosis, treatment side effects, and survivorship.
This program is offered throughout the year.
Give Thanks Breast cancer survivors and their supporters gather each year to celebrate the gift of survival.
This program is offered once a year.
At My Kitchen Table is a one-year feasibility study documenting the development and evaluation of a website-based cookbook, which promotes
cancer prevention and healthy survivorship.
Recipes submitted by breast cancer survivors are:
1) transformed and refined to incorporate cancer prevention strategies;
2) revised with oversight by an executive chef and registered dietitian;
3) tasted-tested and assessed through sensory evaluation; and
4) uploaded to our website, which is then evaluated for performance indicators
(feedback, exposure, and reach).
CoACH is a 24-session experiential nutrition education intervention that employs a social cognitive framework incorporating self-regulation skills (goal-setting, self-monitoring, problem-solving, stimulus control) and social support to enhance self-efficacy for changes in dietary intake that promotes weight loss.
Visit our publications page to learn more.
Breast cancer survivors engaged with researchers in videotaped and audiotaped sessions to develop content for the SISTAAH Talk mobile app, including (a) didactic instructions with goals for, benefits of, and strategies to enhance dietary intake and physical activity; (b) guided discussions for setting individualized goals, monitoring progress, and providing or receiving feedback; (c) experiential nutrition education through cooking demonstrations; and (d) interactive physical activity focused on walking, yoga, and strength training.
Visit our publications page to learn more.
PAID is a multi-component (educational sessions; support group discussions; and structured, moderately intensive walking, strength training, and yoga), facilitated, 24-week program focused on reducing multi-level barriers to physical activity that promote benefits ('pay off') of meeting physical activity guidelines.
Visit our publications page to learn more.
VOICE was a four-component needs assessment of that included:
1) completing a literature review to determine lifestyle modification strategies of
African American women with and without breast cancer;
2) examining health-related quality of life through secondary analysis of the
2010 National Health Interview Survey Cancer Control Supplement;
3) administering a lifestyle assessment tool relating weight and breast cancer history, dietary intake, and health-related quality of life for
African American female breast cancer survivors; and
4) conducting focus group discussions with the same population to develop
community-driven lifestyle interventions.
Visit our publications page to learn more.
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