Gender role beliefs of African American women in the United States should be investigated in a manner that considers their unique experiences and the distinct background of her cultural sharing group. In this study, gender role beliefs of African American women were examined by addressing the research question: What are the gender role beliefs of African American women for African American men and women? Eight focus groups comprising 44 African American women were conducted. Women were diverse in terms of age, religion, and socio-economic status. An ethnographic phenomenological approach was used to explore views related to gender roles among African American women. Nvivo 8, a qualitative data analysis software program, was utilized to code transcribed focus group data. Eight themes and 11 subthemes emerged from the data and were divided into three categories: gender role beliefs for women, gender role beliefs for men, and relevant contextual factors. Themes for gender role beliefs about women were 1) Having Multiple Roles, 2) Dedication to Care of Others, 3) Perceived Social Inferiority, and 4) Strength. Themes for gender role beliefs about men were 5) Lack of Commitment, 6) Strength, and 7) Mental and Emotional Immaturity. The theme that captured related contextual factors of gender roles was 8) Personal and Socio-historical Experiences of African Americans. Knowledge of gender role views can help provide a better understanding of human behavior and assist in the development of culturally specific interventions.

African American women represent one of the largest groups disproportionately living with and affected by HIV/AIDS yet African American women have largely been unrepresented in the federal-state rehabilitation system. As pharmaceutical treatment options improve and individuals with HIV/AIDS are living longer and healthier lives, research exploring the appropriateness of rehabilitation services has increased. Accordingly, it has become more necessary to address the needs of this population. As the largest service provider for people with disabilities, the state-federal rehabilitation system has the potential to be a vital resource for African American women living with HIV/AIDS. The purpose of this study is to identify and examine variables related to and predictive of the utilization of rehabilitative services among a sample of African American women living with HIV/AIDS in the United States who volunteered to complete the National Working Positive Coalition - Vocational Development and Employment Needs Survey (NWPC-VDENS). The sample for this study was 313 African American women living with HIV/AIDS who were recruited from AIDS service organizations and national networks throughout the United States. Participants voluntarily completed the NWPC - VDENS, which explored their needs in the areas of education, training, employment, and health. The behavioral model for vulnerable populations was utilized as a framework to organize and examine predisposing, enabling and need constructs as they related to the utilization of rehabilitative services among African American women living with HIV/AIDS. This study used descriptive, bivariate and binary hierarchical logistic regression statistical analyses to determine the extent to which the constructs were predictive of the use of vocational rehabilitative services. The bivariate analyses produced no statistically significant differences between users and non-users of vocational rehabilitation services for either the predisposing or need variables. Three enabling characteristics, receipt of income benefits, knowledge of services, and reasonable access were all found to have statistical significance in the bivariate analyses. At least one variable from each construct was statistically significant in the regression model. Receipt of income benefits and knowledge of rehabilitation services were found to be predictive of the utilization of vocational rehabilitation services. Study findings framed from previous research, study limitations, implications, and recommendations for future research were acknowledged.

Thesis advisor: Ruth McRoy / Historically, many midlife African American women have served as kinship care providers for children in the family. These parenting responsibilities present even greater challenges for the increasing and disproportionately high number of African American women in this age group who also are living with HIV/AIDS. Even though there have been technological innovations in treating and managing HIV infection, HIV is the fourth leading cause of death among midlife African American women. Despite the existing research on African American women with HIV/AIDS and on African American kinship caregivers, significant research with a specific focus on resiliency within this population has not been conducted. To fill this gap, using a resiliency model as a conceptual framework, the researcher conducted semi-structured in-depth interviews with a convenience sample of 24 middle-aged African American women with HIV/AIDS who are providing informal kinship care. Implications for policy, research, and practice are provided and suggestions for health care providers and child welfare professionals regarding how to support these women and children through enhanced services and other interventions. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2012. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Social Work. / Discipline: Social Work.

Thesis advisor: Joellen W. Hawkins / African American women represent a unique group of women in the United States and have a long history of lack of reproductive freedom. Slavery and forced procreation, sterilization abuses, the Eugenics movement, and federally mandated contraception have all impacted on African American women’s independence in contraceptive decision-making. Given this population’s history, it is important for healthcare providers to understand African American women’s contraceptive decision-making, as women often seek their guidance. The purpose of this dissertation research was to discover the intergenerational influences on African American women’s contraceptive decision-making. The specific aims of this study were to: 1) develop an understanding of African American women’s contraceptive decision-making process; 2) identify the factors that influence their decision-making; and 3) develop knowledge that can be used to influence nursing practice. Included in this exploration were questions on the role of mothers and grandmothers in adolescents’ decision-making, familial beliefs about contraceptive choices and whether societal and social factors continue to influence contraceptive decisionmaking in the 21st Century. For this work, I used a qualitative descriptive approach to develop an understanding of the phenomenon from the participants’ worldview. I recruited a purposive sample of 7 triads from a metropolitan community in the northeast United States. I conducted an individual interview, using a semi-structured guide, with each participant. Six themes emerged from the data: 1) southern influences; 2) a worldview of relationships; 3) communication: key to preparedness; 4) seeking information from Mom; 5) "I got caught up in the game"; and 6) contraceptive use and beliefs. African American women's contraceptive decision making is influenced by a variety of factors including familial beliefs, attitudes, culture, and ethnicity. These patterns are transferred to each succeeding generation. Nurses have a significant role to play in providing appropriate contraceptive information and education in a culturally competent context that will meet the needs of these women and their families. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.

The world has suffered immensely and disproportionately from the ravages of HIV and AIDS. Oral PrEP is a single pill taken once daily that can reduce the risk of sexually transmitted HIV infection by up to 92% (CDC, 2014a). This study describes African American females’ awareness, beliefs, and perception of PrEP and identifies factors that may motivate women to either accept or reject PrEP. This cross-sectional study occurred over a 3-month period from November 2017 to January 2018, following from a previous pilot study. The sample comprised African American women aged 18 and over receiving STD or HIV screening services at a FQHC in Brooklyn, New York. Women were interviewed using the five characteristics of the Diffusion of Innovation theory and also completed a risk assessment for HIV using CDC recommended guidelines for screening heterosexual women for PrEP. Awareness of PrEP remained extremely low among the 72 African American women interviewed in the study. Using the CDC guidelines, all women reported one or more risk factors for PrEP indication. Awareness about PrEP, negative reactions from partners and shared experiences from female PrEP users were cited as factors that may predict and motivate African American women to use PrEP. Additionally, skills in pill-taking, cost and insurance, and maintaining privacy while using PrEP were strong enabling factors to support PrEP use. Factors such as initiating couple’s PrEP use as an intervention, medical doctors overtly directing PrEP for women, and the role of older women in promoting PrEP use were persuasive factors in reinforcing the utilization of PrEP among African American women in the study. Creative programming within high burden communities is critically important to penetrate with messages of new innovations and best practices. The results of the current research speak volumes to the continued work needed to educate communities with prevention messages.

Within the United States, African Americans account for 13% of the entire population, making them the second largest minority group. A notable concern is the rate at which African Americans fail to utilize both medical and mental health services. Researchers have long examined possible factors, such as stigmas, barriers, and accessibility, as reasons why African Americans underutilize psychological help. Overlooked is the potential influence of adverse childhood experiences (ACE). The term ACE encompasses ten major domains, ranging from emotional abuse to parental divorce/separation, all of which have been found to negatively influence individuals’ well-being. As such, this study examined the association between African American women’s adverse childhood experiences and help seeking attitudes. Data for this study were gathered from 64 African American female college students. Adverse childhood experiences were measured with the Traumatic Experiences Checklist (TEC) and help seeking attitudes were assessed with the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help-Short Form (ATSPPH-SF). Results demonstrated scores reflecting childhood traumatic events for violence, death, and legal involvement were negatively related to attitudes toward help seeking. The results of this study highlight the need for continued research regarding ACE for African American women in college settings. Specific implications for this study include outreach development in university counseling centers focused on the association between childhood trauma, violence/legal involvement, and intersectionality. Programming of this nature may provide a critical link to increase this population’s utilization of mental health services. Keywords: African American women, ACE, help seeking

This research is an exploratory step toward identifying how social inequality affects interracial friendship among women and opportunities to develop such relationships. By considering the nonlocal determinants of individual experiences and the ways in which structural variables may influence and operate in friendships, this research attempts to illuminate how micro-level action is actually rooted in "macrolevel" social processes. In keeping with feminist standpoint epistemology, this research begins with the subjective experiences of 15 pairs of African-American/white friends. The women's descriptions of their same-race and cross-race friendships provided a starting point from which to identify the ways in which racial/ ethnic and class inequality shape and operate in these relationships. Social inequality creates economic, ideological, and experiential divisions among African-American and white women. Opportunities for friendship were affected by the proximity of African-American and white women, and long-lived interracial friendships developed among women of similar classes in settings that fostered interracial contact and discussion of racial issues. Group position may also have contributed to the interviewee's desire to make friendships across race. Crossrace friendships were non-threatening and unique to the white interviewees, while African-American interviewees stressed the primacy of same-race ties. The voices of the women participants provided many examples of the ways in which interracial friendships reflected the dynamics of institutional racism and caused difficulties in their friendships across race. Racial/ ethnic inequality was exemplified by a lack of common base from which the women could understand each other, problems resulting from white racism and privilege, African-American interviewees' ambivalence over interracial dating, and different beliefs about the importance of racial/ ethnic identity. The divergent standpoints of African-American and white women created barriers to disclosure in friendships across race. African-American interviewee's experiences of everyday racism caused them to believe that their white friends could not understand their experiences and limited the kinds of information that African American interviewees felt that they could share with white friends. The standpoint of some white women enabled them to ignore racism and downplay the importance of racial identity. The need for African-American women to educate whites about racism and aspects of African-American culture sometimes obstructed interracial friendships. While African-American and white women may form affectionate ties, friendship is not exempt from, nor does it eliminate inequality.

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) accumulates annual data from state department of corrections. The information that the BJS accumulates annually is relevant to this study because it shows the possibility of the many African American women as well as other women in need of assistance while their loved one is incarcerated. The purpose of this study was to explore lived experiences of African American women involved with an incarcerated spouse, partner, or mate. The focal point of interest was how lived experiences affect African American women's physical and psychological well-being. The theoretical framework for this study comprised both the resilience theory and Bandura's self-efficacy theory. The research question that guided this study was: What are the significant experiences acquired during the incarceration process of the spouse, partner, or mate? Data were collected using semi structured interviews conducted with African American women over the age of 18 from a metropolitan city in the northeastern United States with incarcerated spouses, partners, or mates. NVivo software was used to find emergent themes from the data. The conclusions from the research, has endorsed positive social change by enlightening the helping professional. There are psychological implications that these women encountered during their lived experiences such as anxiety disorder, depression, trauma, stigma and shame, as well as criminality by association by staying in the relationship. The community should sustain these anguished women and be a factor in their well-being during the incarceration of their spouses, partners, or mates, as well as guiding them through the penal system via a resource center.

Homelessness is a major social problem in the United States and this nation has the largest number of homeless women. Minority women appear to be more affected than other individuals. Specifically, they are more vulnerable, impoverished, and disenfranchised than all other groups in the nation. These factors affect their emotional well-being and ability to move toward and achieve sustainability. Particularly, African-American women are disproportionately represented in the homeless population, yet they have not been adequately examined in research studies and there are minimal empirical studies that focus on homeless African-American women. Beck's cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Weiner's attribution theory provided the theoretical foundation for this study. The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate whether the length of time African-American women are homeless and their attribution style are associated with symptoms of depression. The data were obtained by administering a demographic questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), and the Attributional Style Questionnaire-revised (ASQ-revised) to 70 African-American women living in a shelter and 2 transitional living centers in Charlotte, North Carolina. Data were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The findings revealed no significant relationship between length of time homeless and depression or between attribution style and length of time homeless. There were no moderation effects. However, there was a significant positive relationship between attribution style and depression. The implications for positive social change include influencing polices pertaining to managing depressive symptoms of homeless African-American women to increase their chances of becoming re-housed.

In the United States, same-sex relationships have been a popular topic for the past decade, largely in relation to marriage. This phenomenological study examined the life experiences of African American women currently in same-sex relationships but previously in heterosexual relationships. Exploring the participants' experiences to the fullest extent was important to understand each person's journey through the stigma and biases that she faced when making life choices. Given the rarity of literature on the subject matter, professional practitioners and clinicians may not know how to assist these women. Queer and social identity theories were applied in exploring the directed research question, which focused on avenues the participants consciously chose to take in order to pursue the lifestyles they wanted to live. Data were collected through semistructured interviews with 10 African American women aged 40 and older who were in same-sex relationships at the time of the study but had previously been in heterosexual relationships, and who lived in the 5 boroughs of New York City. The study recruitment method was snowball sampling, and numerous interview questions were used to capture the essence of each woman's experiences. Inductive analyses revealed a positive and productive social change for practitioners, clinicians, educators, and researchers concerning African American women in same-sex relationships who were previously in heterosexual relationships. Psychologists and researchers who work directly with African American women in same-sex relationships might benefit from these findings.