The Relationship of Social Support to African American Caregivers’ Help-Seeking for Emotional Problems

Abstract

This study analyzes whether social support serves as a link to or substitute for formal services among African American female caregivers seeking help with emotional problems. It also analyzes other determinants of help-seeking. It relies on data from the Black Rural and Urban Caregivers Mental Health and Functioning Study and is guided by a modified version of the behavioral model of health services use. Using hierarchical binary logistic regression, analyses reveal that only age, stress, and support from fellow church members are statistically significantly associated with the likelihood of help-seeking. These results support the linking hypothesis, suggesting that the social support received by African American women caregivers in the context of their religious organizations helps to link them to services.

Race‐Related Differences in the Experiences of Family Members of Persons with Mental Illness Participating in the NAMI Family to Family Education Program

“…Sociocultural factors, such as expectations that the mental illness will be cured and higher levels of religious involvement (Guarnaccia and Parra 1996;Stueve et al 1997), may also shape how African American caregivers in particular engage in both problem-and emotion-focused coping. For example, an important resource for many African Americans is support received from church members (Pickard et al 2012;Taylor and Chatters 1988). Research suggests that African Americans experiencing mental illness often rely on both informal church support and professional mental health services instead of only one or the other when addressing their mental illness (Neighbors and Jackson 1984;Snowden 1998).…”

Clergy Perceptions of Their Preparation for Counseling Older Adults

“…Since many older adults rely on clergy as a first source of help for emotional problems (Oppenheimer et al, 2004;Pickard, 2006;Pickard et al, 2011;Wang et al, 2003;Pickard & Tang, 2009), the formation of publicprivate partnerships to provide training and support to clergy to help them recognize when issues are serious enough to warrant referral would be beneficial to the mental health system and to the health care system in general.…”

Disease Messaging in Churches: Implications for Health in African-American Communities

“…While we focused on chronic and infectious disease messages, mental health messages ranked second in frequency behind cancer messages and ahead of heart disease. The use of clergy and the church, in general, as resources for mental health counseling, support, and services is a growing area of interest, but little is known about current practices (Hankerson & Weissman, 2012; Pickard, Inoue, Chadiha, & Johnson, 2011; Taylor, Ellison, Chatters, Levin, & Lincoln, 2000). A review of faith-based mental health studies published between 1980 and 2009 found only eight had been conducted with African-American churches (Hankerson & Weissman, 2012).…”