Black Women, Black Pride, and Mental Health: How Does the Power of an African American Woman’s Cultural Pride Influence her Perceived Barriers to Mental Health Care?

<p>This research investigated the relationship between cultural pride and perceived barriers to mental health care among African American women in the United States. Though extensive research has highlighted the disparities in mental health service utilization among racial and ethnic minorities, few studies have examined how variations in cultural identity, specifically cultural pride, influence the perception of barriers to accessing care within the African American community. This study was designed to address this gap by exploring how differing levels of cultural pride may affect African American women’s experiences with stigma, mistrust, financial constraints, and availability of services as they relate to mental health care access. Cultural pride was defined as a combination of ethnic identity exploration and affirmation. A cross-sectional mixed-method research design was employed, and data were collected from 61 African American women age 18 years and older recruited through social networks and social media. Participants completed two primary measures: the Barriers to Access to Care Evaluation (BACE-3), which assesses a wide range of perceived barriers to mental health services, and an adapted version of the Racial Identity Scale (RIS) from Ford (1995), which was used to measure levels of cultural pride. Stepwise analyses examined the relationships between cultural pride and perceived barriers, controlling for demographic factors such as age and prior mental health service utilization. Results revealed that higher levels of cultural pride were significantly associated with lower perceptions of stigma-related barriers. These findings highlight the protective role of cultural pride and emphasize the importance of culturally responsive mental health interventions for African American women.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Psy.D. Doctor of Clinical Psychology

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation - NLU Access

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2025

Author dc:creator

• Wright, Lynnette M

Contributors dc:contributor

• Bradley Olson, PhD
• Ashley Michalski, PsyD
• Ericka Mingo, PhD

• Clinical Psychology
• Community Psychology
• Counseling
• Health Psychology
• Human Factors Psychology
• Multicultural Psychology
• Psychology
• Social Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/diss/883

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.nl.edu:diss-1951