Coping with Racism: a Perspective of COVID-19 Church Closures on the Mental Health of African Americans

被引:0
作者
Flavia DeSouza
Carmen Black Parker
E. Vanessa Spearman-McCarthy
Gina Newsome Duncan
Reverend Maria Myers Black
机构
[1] Yale University School of Medicine,Department of Psychiatry
[2] Augusta University,Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior, Medical College of Georgia
[3] Eastover Psychological and Psychiatric Group,undefined
[4] P.A,undefined
[5] African Methodist Episcopal Church,undefined
来源
Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities | 2021年 / 8卷
关键词
COVID-19; Church; Religion; African American; Black; Racism;
D O I
暂无
中图分类号
学科分类号
摘要
Academic medical literature and news outlets extensively document how older individuals in communities of color, especially African American communities, are dying disproportionately of COVID-19 due to ongoing societal, racial, and healthcare disparities. Fear of death and suffering are acutely elevated in Black communities; yet, African Americans have been facing, coping with, and overcoming American societal racism and subsequent detriments to our mental health for centuries. Predominately African American churches (hereafter referred to as the “Black Church”) have always served a historical, cultural, contextual, and scientifically validated role in the mental health well-being of African American communities coping with American racism. Nonetheless, buildings of worship closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020. This article is a first-hand perspective of five Black internists/psychiatrists who are deeply involved in both academic medicine and leadership positions within the Black Church. It will explore how the physical closure of Black Churches during this period of increased mental stress, as caused by healthcare inequities revealed by the COVID-19 epidemic, is likely to be uniquely taxing to the mental health of African Americans, particularly older African Americans, who must cope with American racism without physical access to the Black Church for the first time in history.
引用
收藏
页码:7 / 11
页数:4
相关论文
共 84 条
[1]  
Laurencin CT(2020)The COVID-19 pandemic: a call to action to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities J Racial Ethn Health Disparities 7 398-402
[2]  
McClinton A(2018)Tuskegee and the health of black men Q J Econ 133 407-455
[3]  
Alsan M(2007)Beyond misdiagnosis, misunderstanding and mistrust: relevance of the historical perspective in the medical and mental health treatment of people of color J Natl Med Assoc 99 879-885
[4]  
Wanamaker M(2017)Discrimination and psychiatric disorders among older African Americans Int J Geriatr Psychiatry 32 175-182
[5]  
Suite DH(2015)Racism as a determinant of health: a systematic review and meta-analysis PLoS One 10 e0138511-283
[6]  
La Bril R(2019)Experienced discrimination and racial differences in leukocyte gene expression Psychoneuroendocrinology. 106 277-337
[7]  
Primm A(2004)Racial differences in perceived discrimination in a community population of older blacks and whites J Aging Health 16 315-691
[8]  
Harrison-Ross P(2018)Prayer, attachment to god, and changes in psychological well-being in later life J Aging Health 30 667-965
[9]  
Mouzon DM(2008)Religious participation and DSM-IV disorders among older African Americans: findings from the National Survey of American life Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 16 957-26
[10]  
Taylor RJ(2018)Older, Church-going African Americans’ attitudes and expectations about formal depression care Res Aging 40 3-635