“I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women
IntroductionPublic discussions in the media (e.g., social media and reality shows) about Black women's mental health have become more common. Notably, celebrities have become more vocal about their own mental health challenges and sought to normalize seeking care. This study aimed to gain a bet...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-01-01
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| author | Terika McCall Terika McCall Terika McCall Meagan Foster Holly Tomlin Holly Tomlin Bolatito Adepoju Mckenzie Bolton-Johnson Chyrell D. Bellamy |
| author_facet | Terika McCall Terika McCall Terika McCall Meagan Foster Holly Tomlin Holly Tomlin Bolatito Adepoju Mckenzie Bolton-Johnson Chyrell D. Bellamy |
| author_sort | Terika McCall |
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| description | IntroductionPublic discussions in the media (e.g., social media and reality shows) about Black women's mental health have become more common. Notably, celebrities have become more vocal about their own mental health challenges and sought to normalize seeking care. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of Black women's: (1) past and current causes of stress, anxiety, and depression, and coping skills used; (2) their attitudes and perceptions toward mental health and receiving mental health treatment; and (3) times in their life they felt anxious or depressed, and what type of support or resources would have been helpful to have access to.MethodsFocus groups were conducted with 20 women (mean age 36.6 years, SD 17.8 years), with 5 participants per group. Descriptive qualitative content analysis of the focus group transcripts was conducted.ResultsResults consistently showed that intersectional identities of being both Black and a woman resulted in feelings of both hypervisibility and invisibility, representation matters when it comes to mental health providers, an increased openness to therapy across age groups, and a willingness to try digital health tools (e.g., smartphone app) for mental health needs. There is still work to be done to normalize mental health treatment among Black women.DiscussionSubgroups within the community (e.g., young adults) have less stigma around mental health and are acting as catalysts for change. Intentional inclusion of Black women in mental health research and evolving treatment paradigms is important to eliminate inequities in access to culturally relevant mental health care. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-59635e4965de48349ea028ae19a551aa |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-59635e4965de48349ea028ae19a551aa2025-01-14T05:10:34ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-01-011510.3389/fpsyg.2024.14699501469950“I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American womenTerika McCall0Terika McCall1Terika McCall2Meagan Foster3Holly Tomlin4Holly Tomlin5Bolatito Adepoju6Mckenzie Bolton-Johnson7Chyrell D. Bellamy8Division of Health Informatics, Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United StatesDepartment of Biomedical Informatics and Data Science, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United StatesCenter for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS (CIRA), Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United StatesDivision of Health Informatics, Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United StatesDivision of Health Informatics, Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United StatesEmory University School of Law, Atlanta, GA, United StatesDivision of Health Informatics, Department of Biostatistics, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, United StatesMMJ Counseling & Consulting, Garner, NC, United StatesDepartment of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United StatesIntroductionPublic discussions in the media (e.g., social media and reality shows) about Black women's mental health have become more common. Notably, celebrities have become more vocal about their own mental health challenges and sought to normalize seeking care. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of Black women's: (1) past and current causes of stress, anxiety, and depression, and coping skills used; (2) their attitudes and perceptions toward mental health and receiving mental health treatment; and (3) times in their life they felt anxious or depressed, and what type of support or resources would have been helpful to have access to.MethodsFocus groups were conducted with 20 women (mean age 36.6 years, SD 17.8 years), with 5 participants per group. Descriptive qualitative content analysis of the focus group transcripts was conducted.ResultsResults consistently showed that intersectional identities of being both Black and a woman resulted in feelings of both hypervisibility and invisibility, representation matters when it comes to mental health providers, an increased openness to therapy across age groups, and a willingness to try digital health tools (e.g., smartphone app) for mental health needs. There is still work to be done to normalize mental health treatment among Black women.DiscussionSubgroups within the community (e.g., young adults) have less stigma around mental health and are acting as catalysts for change. Intentional inclusion of Black women in mental health research and evolving treatment paradigms is important to eliminate inequities in access to culturally relevant mental health care.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1469950/fullBlack or African Americanwomenmental healthanxietydepressiontelemedicine |
| spellingShingle | Terika McCall Terika McCall Terika McCall Meagan Foster Holly Tomlin Holly Tomlin Bolatito Adepoju Mckenzie Bolton-Johnson Chyrell D. Bellamy “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women Frontiers in Psychology Black or African American women mental health anxiety depression telemedicine |
| title | “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women |
| title_full | “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women |
| title_fullStr | “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women |
| title_full_unstemmed | “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women |
| title_short | “I think we're on a cusp of some change:” coping and support for mental wellness among Black American women |
| title_sort | i think we re on a cusp of some change coping and support for mental wellness among black american women |
| topic | Black or African American women mental health anxiety depression telemedicine |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1469950/full |
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