Life Events, Barriers to Care, and Outcomes Among Minority Women Experiencing Depression: A Longitudinal, Mixed-Method Examination.

ABSTRACT: The long-term course of depression is not well-understood among minority women. We assessed depression trajectory, barriers to depression care, and life difficulties among minority women accessing health and social service programs as part of the Community Partners in Care study. Data include surveys ( N = 339) and interviews ( n = 58) administered at 3-year follow-up with African American and Latina women with improved versus persistent depression. The majority of the sample reported persistent depression (224/339, 66.1%), ≥1 barrier to mental health care (226/339, 72.4%), and multiple life difficulties (mean, 2.7; SD, 2.3). Many barriers to care ( i.e. , related to stigma and care experience, finances, and logistics) and life difficulties ( i.e. , related to finances, trauma, and relationships) were more common among individuals reporting persistent depression. Results suggest the importance of past experiences with depression treatment, ongoing barriers to care, and negative life events as contributors to inequities in depression outcomes experienced by minority women.

Growing a Community-Academic Partnership: Lessons Learned in Forming a Qualitative Interview Team for the Community Partners in Care Study.

By engaging, partnering, and building trust with community members, research on vulnerable populations may offer opportunities to improve population health in communities that suffer from health disparities. While the literature on participatory and partnered approaches offers techniques and strategies for forming community-academic partnerships, less information is available about how partnerships can grow and evolve over time. In this article, we describe the expansion of a long-standing partnership that uses principles of community partnered participatory research (CPPR), a variant of community-based participatory research (CBPR). We outline the preparation and executive phases of conducting qualitative interviewing with highly vulnerable study participants who have already been participants in a longitudinal survey. We describe the challenges and concerns at each phase of the research and summarize some lessons learned. To grow and evolve, the partnership must constantly be reaffirmed in the experiences of new members.

Healing pathways: longitudinal effects of religious coping and social support on PTSD symptoms in African American sexual assault survivors.

African American women are at a slightly increased risk for sexual assault (A. Abbey, A. Jacques-Tiaura, & M. Parkhill, 2010). However, because of stigma, experiences of racism, and historical oppression, African American women are less likely to seek help from formal agencies compared to White women (Lewis et al., 2005; S. E. Ullman & H. H. Filipas, 2001) and/or women of other ethnic backgrounds (C. Ahrens, S. Abeling, S. Ahmad, & J. Himman, 2010). Therefore, the provision of culturally appropriate services, such as the inclusion of religion and spiritual coping, may be necessary when working with African American women survivors of sexual assault. Controlling for age and education, the current study explores the impact of religious coping and social support over 1 year for 252 African American adult female sexual assault survivors recruited from the Chicago metropolitan area. Results from hierarchical linear regression analyses reveal that high endorsement of religious coping and social support at Time 1 does not predict a reduction in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms at Time 2. However, high social support at Time 2 does predict lower PTSD at Time 2. Also, it is significant to note that survivors with high PTSD at Time 1 and Time 2 endorse greater use of social support and religious coping. Clinical and research implications are explored.