Socio-cultural contexts surrounding African American grief management after homicide

Permanent URL: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20213130
Title:
Socio-cultural contexts surrounding African American grief management after homicide
Creator:
Strowd, Jacqueline R. (Author)
Contributor:
Cuevas, Carlos (Advisor)
Farrell, Amy (Committee member)
Language:
English
Publisher:
Boston, Massachusetts : Northeastern University, 2016
Date Accepted:
May 2016
Date Awarded:
August 2016
Type of resource:
Text
Genre:
Masters theses
Format:
electronic
Digital origin:
born digital
Abstract/Description:
Despite the numerous studies examining the death rate and behaviors of African Americans, there seems to be a scarce amount of research regarding these individuals' grief and subsequent coping after the traumatic event of homicide. African American individuals identifying as survivors of homicide have been shown to be vastly more susceptible to mental health issues associated with a maladaptive grieving process such as depression, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), and Prolonged Grief Disorder (PGD) as compared to their Caucasian counterparts (Burke, Neimeyer, & McDevitt-Murphy, 2010). As violence has been shown to be more pervasive within these disadvantaged communities, it is imperative to understand how African Americans determine which coping strategies are most apt. Moreover, the dearth of scholarly research on the subject sheds light on the recent demand for a more culturally informed understanding of grief and coping. The current literature review examines this understudied phenomenon through the socio-cultural context surrounding African American grief that leads to the formation of their unique coping strategies. From this assessment, the author proposes a theoretical framework, which would allow a new way of observing how African Americans navigate their grief by weighing their ancestral heritage beliefs and their own contemporary beliefs with one another to determine the best coping strategies available to them. It is the hope of this literature review that the newly proposed framework will aid in the creation of a more culturally informed mental health care for African Americans.
Subjects and keywords:
coping strategies
African Americans -- Crimes against -- Psychology
Murder victims' families -- United States -- Psychology
African Americans -- Mental health
Grief -- United States -- Psychological aspects
Bereavement -- United States -- Psychological aspects
Homicide -- United States -- United States
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17760/D20213130
Permanent Link:
http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20213130
Use and reproduction:
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