Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Date

2022

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education

Department

Higher & Adult Education

Committee Chair

Edith Gnanadass

Committee Member

Alison Happel-Parkins

Committee Member

Wendy Griswold

Committee Member

Laura C. Taylor

Abstract

The unique healing and coping perspectives of Black women that have been silenced and traditionally left out of education and mental health offer diverse, unique, and critical understanding of healing and mental health that has not been considered in the past. The purpose of this study was to describe the lived experiences of Black women’s mental health and methods of spiritual healing from intersecting oppressions. The research questions that guided this study were centered on identifying how Black women understand and narrate their experiences of mental health, the role of misrepresentations on Black women’s mental health, and the methods of spiritual healing and coping. In this Black/endarkened feminist narrative study, four Black women were interviewed using unstructured interviews to understand how the participants narrated, processed, and coped with experiences of intersecting oppressions. Daughtering was used as the methodological tool to engage in the process of analyzing and interpreting the data. The findings revealed that Black women experienced a lack of self-care and increased stress due to a perceived obligation to take on multiple role responsibilities. The participants were empowered to take control of harmful deficit-fueled narratives of Black women to (re)define their identities and mental health experiences. Lastly, the study showed the use of spirituality and the (re)narration of experiences as a diverse method of healing and coping that was individualized to each participant. Keywords: Black women’s mental health, healing, spirituality, daughtering, Black feminist theory, endarkened feminism, narrative inquiry, controlling images

Comments

Data is provided by the student.

Library Comment

Dissertation or thesis originally submitted to ProQuest.

Notes

Open access

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