African American Studies Commons^™

Social Worker Perspectives Of Working With Aging African Americans With Depressive Disorders, Sherian Waite

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although there is a greater proportion of people living with depressive disorders within the African American older adult population compared to their White counterparts, fewer African Americans are engaging in mental health treatment when compared to the Caucasian community. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences and practices of social workers who are providing mental health care treatment to African American older adult patients (aged 65 and over) living with a depressive disorder. The study was framed using both the health belief model and critical race theory. To address the research questions, a generic qualitative design …

African American Women And Social Support Networks To Overcome The Strong Black Woman Schema And Depression, Teia Jelisia D. Clements

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental illness disorders within the United States are on the rise. Researchers have indicated that African Americans are less likely to seek mental health compared to European Americans. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how social support networks influence African American women between the ages of 25 and 50 in addressing the strong Black woman (SBW) schema and depression. A conceptual framework consisting of the SBW collective theory guided the study. A purposive sample of 16 African American women who use social support networks to address the SBW schema and depression was obtained through flyers posted …

African American Women And Social Support Networks To Overcome The Strong Black Woman Schema And Depression, Teia Jelisia D. Clements

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental illness disorders within the United States are on the rise. Researchers have indicated that African Americans are less likely to seek mental health compared to European Americans. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how social support networks influence African American women between the ages of 25 and 50 in addressing the strong Black woman (SBW) schema and depression. A conceptual framework consisting of the SBW collective theory guided the study. A purposive sample of 16 African American women who use social support networks to address the SBW schema and depression was obtained through flyers posted …

Social Support Needs Of African American Single Parent Women Residing In Atlanta, Tyneisha Douglas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social workers may serve marginalized groups of people such as single parents who may face challenges and barriers to raising a healthy family. African American mothers are more likely to have adverse experiences with parenting without a partner or additional supportive primary caregiver than women in other racial groups. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore the mental health challenges that impact African American women who are single parents. Social cognitive theory provided the theoretical framework for the study. Data were collected from individual interviews with ten parents from daycare centers in the metropolitan Atlanta area that …

Ambivalence Over Emotion Expression And The Effects Of Religious Coping In African American Christians, Anya Loraine Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are 10% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report having serious mental health issues from psychological stressors. Mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that arise from psychological stressors, are more than likely to go untreated in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to turn to religion- their church, their pastors, and fellow parishioners to address these concerns. Religion and religious coping has influenced African Americans’ attitudes regarding help-seeking and mental health treatment, with the “Black Church” historically being a source of many things, including mental health care. Pargament’s theory of religious coping served as a …

Ambivalence Over Emotion Expression And The Effects Of Religious Coping In African American Christians, Anya Loraine Dobbs

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

African Americans are 10% more likely than non-Hispanic Whites to report having serious mental health issues from psychological stressors. Mental health concerns, such as depression and anxiety, that arise from psychological stressors, are more than likely to go untreated in African Americans. African Americans are more likely to turn to religion- their church, their pastors, and fellow parishioners to address these concerns. Religion and religious coping has influenced African Americans’ attitudes regarding help-seeking and mental health treatment, with the “Black Church” historically being a source of many things, including mental health care. Pargament’s theory of religious coping served as a …

Stress And Coping In Food-Insecure African Americans In Clark County, Nevada, Johanna Andrews

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

African Americans have the highest rates of food insecurity than any other racial/ethnic group in the nation as a result of poverty, low household income, unemployment, food injustice, food mirages, and racial segregation. This consistent uncertainty in food access demonstrably results in poor mental health outcomes for food-insecure African Americans. Thus, the Transactional Model of Stress and Coping provides a theoretical framework to investigate how African Americans cope with food insecurity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate processes of coping with food insecurity and determine their impact on emotional well-being for African Americans in Clark County, Nevada. A …

Strong Black Women, Depression, And The Pentecostal Church, Dawn E. Davis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a global health concern and among the top two causes of disability

and disease. African-Americans often seek help from the Black church, but

Pentecostal churches may fail to provide effective support due to doctrinal beliefs.

African-American women with depression struggle due to psychosocial implications

of the diagnosis. This research study used social constructionism and the

biopsychosocial model of health to explore the lived experiences of African-

American women suffering from self-reported depression while attending

Pentecostal churches in the Northeast United States. Fourteen women, ages

20 to 76, participated in this qualitative, phenomenological study. Data obtained

from the semistructured, …

"Propaganda For Democracy": The Vexed History Of The Federal Theatre Project, Karen E. Gellen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My thesis explores and analyzes the Federal Theater Project’s cultural and political impact during the Depression, as well as the contested legacy of this unique experiment in government-sponsored, broadly accessible cultural expression. Part of the New Deal’s Works Projects Administration, the FTP aimed to provide jobs for playwrights, actors, designers, stagehands, and other theater professionals on relief in the stark period from 1935 to 1939. But the project became a nationwide political and artistic flashpoint, spurring fierce debate over the leadership, politics and impact of this “people’s theater.” The FTP gave professional theater an unprecedented reach into working-class and black …

The Impact Of African-Centered Psychotherapy On Depressive Symptoms And Africentric Worldview In African Americans, Larae Tillis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Depression is a prominent issue in the African American community. However, there are significant gaps in the literature on the delivery and outcomes of culturally relevant mental health psychotherapy to African Americans. Cultural variables, such as worldview, have been noted to impact an individual's overall psychosocial functioning and have significant implications for mental health service delivery. The purpose of this study was to use archival data to analyze the impact of African-centered therapeutic services on depressive symptoms and on Africentric worldview among African Americans. Archival data on 38 African American adults, recorded from 2012-2015, were obtained from a community mental …

Rural Obese African American Women And Depression, Food Culture, And Binge Eating, Tracee Tamiko Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rural African American population has a high incidence of severe psychosocial problems and a skewed perception of obesity, despite obesity's extremely high prevalence rate in this population. Despite the acknowledgements of these problems, there is a gap in literature relative to the effective treatments for obese African Americans diagnosed with depression. This study measured correlations between obesity and depression, binge eating, and food culture amongst African American women residing in Jefferson County, MS. The health belief model was used to guide an assessment of beliefs, perceptions, susceptibility, cues to action, and self-efficacy. A cross-sectional design was used based on …

Attachment-Focused Integrative Reminiscence With Older African Americans: A Randomized Controlled Intervention Study, Myra Sabir, Suk-Young Kang

Myra Sabir

The Literary Legacy Of The Federal Writers' Project, Sara Rendene Rutkowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Established by President Roosevelt in 1935 as part of the New Deal, the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) put thousands of unemployed professionals to work documenting American life during the Depression. Federal writers--many of whom would become famous, including Ralph Ellison, Nelson Algren, Saul Bellow, Zora Neale Hurston, Richard Wright, Margaret Walker, and Dorothy West--collected reams of oral histories and folklore, and produced hundreds of guides to cities and states across the country. Yet, despite both the Project's extraordinary volume of writing and its unprecedented support for writers, few critics have examined it from a literary perspective. Instead, the FWP has …

The Strong Black Woman, Depression, And Emotional Eating, Michelle Renee Offutt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Abstract

Eighty percent of all black women are overweight or obese which can lead to greatly increased morbidity and mortality, increasing healthcare costs and loss of healthy years of life. While multiple factors may contribute to obesity in black women, the cultural persona of the Strong Black Woman (SBW), an ideology that promotes unflagging toughness and denial of self-needs, may be the basis for behaviors that contribute to steady state obesity in this group. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between the SBW persona, depression, and emotional eating.

Two predominately black churches in Florida were approached …

Mcgee, Mildred Interview 1, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Mrs. Mildred McGee was born June 29, 1927 and married to Judge Hansel McGee. Also interviewed here are her daughter Dr. Elizabeth McGee and Mr. Leroi Archible. In the first session, Mrs. McGee provides details of her education, her parents’ backgrounds, living in Harlem, the Bronx, Washington DC and moving back to the Bronx. She also describes her husband’s childhood and his education. She attended an elementary school where there were no African-American teachers and she had only one African-American teacher in Junior High who taught Social Studies. The students also learned how to sew, cook and housekeeping at school. …

Cunningham, James And Cunningham, Margaret, Bronx African American History Project

Oral Histories

Interviewees: James and Margaret Cunningham

Interviewers: Mark Naison and Natasha Lightfoot

Date: January 9, 2006

Summarized by Leigh Waterbury

James Cunningham was born in the Bronx in 1918 and describes what life was like in his household and his neighborhood. His father was a light-skinned black man who was considered colored while in WWI, and later when he moved to New York City to work as a customs inspector he was able to pass as white, which likely helped him to acquire that position. James attended PS 23 elementary school in his neighborhood around 167^th street, where he was …