CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Heide Glaesmer, Dr, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, 04103; Heide.Glaesmer@medizin.uni-leipzig.de Objective: To explore how African American youth cope with the diagnosis and treatment of parental breast cancer and to identify culturally sensitive ways to recruit and sustain participation of this vulnerable population in intervention programs. Methods: Three qualitative focus groups which were part of a larger study were conducted with 12 African American youth between the ages of 11 and 18 currently coping with parental breast cancer from the northeastern part of the United States. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using content analysis. Results: African American youth described fear and uncertainty about the mortality of their parent, their unpredictable future, and discomfort in negotiating breast cancer's relationship with the entire family. Four primary themes emerged which were coping with cancer, surviving cancer too, changes in family function, and growth through pain. African American youth described feeling overlooked by their families and oncology staff treating their parents, often being in the role of protecting their parents physically and emotionally. Conclusions: This study suggests that clinicians can improve the care of African American breast cancer patients and their adolescent children by being more family-centered. Adolescents need more developmentally appropriate preparation for the family changes likely to occur when a parent is diagnosed and treated for breast cancer. Developing a support group comprised of other youth coping with parental breast cancer from diagnosis throughout treatment was described as a preferred intervention to promote a shared understanding in order to overcome feelings of isolation, worry, and fear. Background: Previous studies suggest that use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) may have a beneficial influence on emotional well-being of cancer patients. Most existing studies, however, are based on small non-representative samples and have not differentiated between different types of cancer and specific types of CAM. Objective: To investigate if use of specific types of CAM measured 3 months after surgery predicted the level of depressive symptoms at follow-up 15-16 months after surgery when controlling for baseline depression and sociodemographic-, health-, disease-, and treatment related confounders.