PURPOSE: To examine the health-promoting functions of storytelling in a group of women. DESIGN: Secondary analysis, descriptive. A convenience sample of 28 women of African descent living in the Seattle-Tacoma region of the United States was used. METHODS: Narrative analysis of 115 stories. Data were audio-taped in four focus groups convened during a 6-week period in 1992.
In this ethnographic study, a womanist framework was used to investigate the process of recovery from domestic violence. A purposive sample of African American women (N = 21) was interviewed to gain understanding of their recovery process. Survivorship-thriving was the overarching process.
There is a dearth of research on risk/protective factors for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among low-income African American women with a history of intimate partner violence (IPV), presenting for suicidal behavior or routine medical care in a large, urban hospital. We examined self-esteem, social support, and religious coping as mediators between experiences of child maltreatment (CM) and IPV and symptoms of PTSD in a sample (N = 134) of low-income African American women.
Though there is substantial rationale to consider any association between spirituality and religion and intimate partner violence, research in this area is particularly lacking. African Americans are known to utilize religion and spirituality at significant rates to deal with adversity. Accordingly, any investigation of Black women's methods of contending with abusive relationships would be deficient if it did not include an examination of the women's use of ecclesiastical resources.
Spirituality has been identified as one component of a culturally competent therapeutic intervention for African American women. The present study was designed to investigate the ability of factors, such as level of hopelessness and the use of positive religious coping strategies, to predict spiritual well-being over time. Seventy-four low-income African American women were administered self-report questionnaires measuring hopelessness, use of religious coping strategies, and two domains of spiritual well-being.
Journal of Clinical Psychology in Medical Settings
This study explored intervention outcomes and mechanisms that could help explain why low-income, African American women with a history of intimate partner abuse and suicide attempt improve in response to a culturally-informed intervention, the Grady Nia Project. Specifically, the investigation examined whether or not the intervention had effects on the women and whether or not spiritual well-being and coping mediated the effects of the intervention on suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms.
Although there is an association between experiencing childhood emotional abuse and feeling hopeless as an adult, it is critical to understand the factors that may be protective in this relationship. The goal of this study was to determine if two protective factors, namely spiritual well-being, including both religious and existential well-being, and positive self-esteem, served to mediate the association between childhood emotional abuse and adult hopelessness.
The study explores the role of race and differences in coping among 290 white women and black women with and without alcoholic parents, addressing two questions: (1) Does coping vary by parental alcoholism or race? and (2) How is coping in adulthood affected by childhood stressors and resources and by adulthood resources? Standardized self-administered questionnaires (Coping Responses Inventory and the Children of Alcoholics Screening Test) measuring approach and avoidant coping methods were used.
