The underrepresented voice: The African American mother's ideal treatment model for stress

The current study explored African American mothers' experiences of stress, how they cope with stress, and their ideal treatment model for stress through a discussion of their treatment preferences. The purpose of the present study was to inquire about the sources of stress and coping mechanisms of African American mothers while also exploring the ideal healthcare treatment model to address stress and its psychological, social, physical, and medical consequences from their perspective. The study utilized a qualitative phenomenological design so that African American mothers could describe their treatment needs and have a voice in this emerging discussion of integrated healthcare. Eleven semi-structured interviews were conducted with African American mothers who reported that they were experiencing chronic psychological stress. Several themes emerged from the interviews including: the mothers having a history of Childhood Trials and Tribulations, Growing up Too Fast, Strong Black Woman Role, I'm Tired, Fear of Dying and Leaving Children Led to Making Positive Changes, More Than a Conqueror, God as Savior and Refuge, and a preference for Being Understood by healthcare providers. Implications for practice are the usefulness of inquiring about stress instead of traditional behavioral health diagnoses or terms when treating the African American family, the importance of early intervention services that are easily accessible during times of need, psycho-education about recognizing the impact of toxic stress, and a culturally/spiritually sensitive patient-centered model that includes long term relationships with healthcare providers that emphasize accurate empathic understanding.