The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services

The rise in diagnosable mental illness disorders in the United States is a major concern. However, researchers indicate that African Americans are far less likely to seek mental health treatment than Caucasian Americans. This qualitative, phenomenological study addressed a research gap regarding the...

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Main Author: White, Tamara
Format: Others
Language:en
Published: ScholarWorks 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2705
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3808&context=dissertations
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spelling ndltd-waldenu.edu-oai-scholarworks.waldenu.edu-dissertations-38082019-10-30T01:04:23Z The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services White, Tamara The rise in diagnosable mental illness disorders in the United States is a major concern. However, researchers indicate that African Americans are far less likely to seek mental health treatment than Caucasian Americans. This qualitative, phenomenological study addressed a research gap regarding the beliefs, perceptions, stigmas, and practices of African American clergy regarding their promotion of mental health services. Two conceptual frameworks consisting of the sociocultural theory and the social learning theory guided the study. There were two research questions used to guide the exploration of the purposive sampling of 6 African American clergy from major African American denominations across the southeastern United States. Responses from the in-depth, semistructured interviews, after being analyzed, coded, and categorized, were grouped into 3 main themes: (a) stigmas African American clergy have regarding mental illness, (b) African American clergy's promotion of secular counseling for mental health treatment, and (c) clergy's personal experiences with mental illness and secular counseling. The results were that African American clergy had stigmas regarding the use and promotion of mental health services and relied more on prayer as the first line of defense. Social change implications include bringing awareness to African American clergy at large and how their perceptions, beliefs, stigmas, and practices affect their congregations and communities. An increased knowledge of mental illness and interventions, with sensitivity to African Americans culturally and spiritually, may improve the rates of African Americans help-seeking behaviors and minimize the risk of stigmatization. 2016-01-01T08:00:00Z text application/pdf https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2705 https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3808&context=dissertations Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies en ScholarWorks African American Clergy Counseling Mental Health Stigmas Psychiatric and Mental Health Religion Social and Behavioral Sciences
collection NDLTD
language en
format Others
sources NDLTD
topic African
American
Clergy
Counseling
Mental Health
Stigmas
Psychiatric and Mental Health
Religion
Social and Behavioral Sciences
spellingShingle African
American
Clergy
Counseling
Mental Health
Stigmas
Psychiatric and Mental Health
Religion
Social and Behavioral Sciences
White, Tamara
The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
description The rise in diagnosable mental illness disorders in the United States is a major concern. However, researchers indicate that African Americans are far less likely to seek mental health treatment than Caucasian Americans. This qualitative, phenomenological study addressed a research gap regarding the beliefs, perceptions, stigmas, and practices of African American clergy regarding their promotion of mental health services. Two conceptual frameworks consisting of the sociocultural theory and the social learning theory guided the study. There were two research questions used to guide the exploration of the purposive sampling of 6 African American clergy from major African American denominations across the southeastern United States. Responses from the in-depth, semistructured interviews, after being analyzed, coded, and categorized, were grouped into 3 main themes: (a) stigmas African American clergy have regarding mental illness, (b) African American clergy's promotion of secular counseling for mental health treatment, and (c) clergy's personal experiences with mental illness and secular counseling. The results were that African American clergy had stigmas regarding the use and promotion of mental health services and relied more on prayer as the first line of defense. Social change implications include bringing awareness to African American clergy at large and how their perceptions, beliefs, stigmas, and practices affect their congregations and communities. An increased knowledge of mental illness and interventions, with sensitivity to African Americans culturally and spiritually, may improve the rates of African Americans help-seeking behaviors and minimize the risk of stigmatization.
author White, Tamara
author_facet White, Tamara
author_sort White, Tamara
title The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
title_short The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
title_full The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
title_fullStr The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
title_full_unstemmed The Perception of African American Clergy Regarding Mental Health Services
title_sort perception of african american clergy regarding mental health services
publisher ScholarWorks
publishDate 2016
url https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2705
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3808&context=dissertations
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