Mind, body, and spirit: a constructivist grounded theory study of wellness among middle-class Black women

ABSTRACT

Previous studies show that Black women in the United States experience disproportionately poorer health outcomes compared to women of other racial/ethnic groups. Recently the focus is on improving the health of Black women in the United States. However, there is little empirical evidence on what Black women need to improve their health to be well. The goal of this constructivist grounded theory was to increase the understanding of wellness among middle-class Black women (N = 30) in a large Midwestern city in the United States through an intersectional lens. The findings show that the connection and balance between mind, body, and spirit was the core experience of wellness among middle-class Black women. Mind, body, and spirit was described in three ways—(a) mentally managing, (b) physically caring for my body, and (c) connecting spiritually—with the women also noting the barriers and facilitators they endured to be well. Each of these categories highlight the tension middle-class Black women experience with trying to be well. Implications for future practice and research with middle-class Black women are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Black women
• wellness
• constructivist grounded theory
• intersectionality
• cultural perspectives

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Notes on contributors

Quenette L. Walton

Quenette L. Walton, LCSW is an Assistant Professor and Co-Director of the Maternal Health Equity Research and Training Center in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston. Dr. Walton is among a handful of U.S. scholars that specifically investigates how social class, gender, culture, and race affects the mental health and well-being of Black middle-class women. Thus, the aims of her research program are to build knowledge and develop theory that informs policies, practices, and culturally relevant and evidence-based interventions in order to reduce depression and increase well-being among middle-class Black women. Because depression and well-being do not occur in isolation, Dr. Walton also focuses on social class, gender, culture, and race as intersectional social determinants of health and mental health disparities.

Jacquelyn V. Coats

Jacquelyn V. Coats, MSW, MPH is a PhD candidate at Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work. Jacquelyn’s research interests are broadly dedicated to the social and environmental determinants of health that disproportionately and adversely impact African Americans, with a focus on African American women in later life. Her specific research interests focus on (1) mental and physical health consequences of stress among older African American women, including racism and discrimination as stressors; (2) understanding and identifying facilitators and barriers to healthy aging and well-being among older African Americans, with particular attention to cultural and community assets and resources that enhance health, and (3) employing qualitative and community engaged research methods.

Kia Skrine Jeffers

Kia Skrine Jeffers is an Assistant Professor in the UCLA School of Nursing and Associate Director for the Arts in the Center for the Study of Racism, Social Justice & Health in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. Her scholarship aims to mitigate the impact of structural factors that shape and reinforce preventable mental health inequities for Black women as they age. Through participatory, arts-based, and quantitative approaches, Dr. Skrine Jeffers develops and informs community-based interventions that attend to the lived experiences and cultural assets of Black women across their life courses.

Joan M. Blakey

Joan M. Blakey is an Associate Professor and the Director of School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota. Her areas of expertise include child advocacy, protection, and welfare; diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); justice and corrections, substance use and substance use treatment; and trauma and trauma-informed are. She also focuses on anti-racist and anti-oppressive practice with the social work profession. She holds a BS and MSW from the University of Minnesota and PhD from the University of Chicago.

Alexandra N. Hood

Alexandra N. Hood is a doctoral student at the University of Houston in the Graduate College of Social Work. Alexandra’s research focuses on addressing systemic racial injustices to promote equity, resilience, and emotional well-being for Black and biracial girls. Alexandra’s current project focuses on Black girls utilizing an anti-racist lens that conceptualizes how having multi-system involvement (child welfare and juvenile carceral systems) and adultification influence Black girls’ identity development. She uses critical race feminism and intersectionality to guide her work.

Tyreasa Washington

Tyreasa Washington is a Full Professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and Child Trends’ Senior Program Area Director for Child Welfare. Dr. Washington is a nationally and internationally recognized leading scholar in the child welfare field. Her primary research interest is on kinship care families (e.g., grandparents raising grandchildren) and how resources and policies affect these families. She is among a handful of scholars who examine the impact of family-level factors on the outcomes of African American children who live with kin caregivers. Dr. Washington’s life and research share an overarching goal of translating knowledge into beneficial, meaningful mechanisms that promote the healthy development of children and families. She is also committed to improving the lives of individuals by training and mentoring practitioners and researchers and is the recipient of several teaching and mentoring awards.