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- Genre: Doctoral Dissertation
Description
Black queer women and nonbinary people (BQWNB) living with mental distress are an important sub-group in the Black community in need of greater attention in mental health research. However, the majority of health research about the Black community focuses on Black cisgender men who have sex with men and people who have or are at risk of having HIV/AIDS. To expand the knowledge about BQWNB, I applied critical and transformative approaches to understand mental distress. Using a Black queer feminist mental health framework and transformative healing justice lens, this phenomenological qualitative study set out to explore and describe how BQWNB living with mental distress navigated their mental health and wellbeing with a sample of 17 participants. Data were collected using one-on-one audio-recorded semi-structured interviews. There were three major findings that emerged from participants’ narratives: (1) contributors to mental distress, (2) impacts of mental distress, and (3) positive responses to mental distress. Contributors to mental distress included individual and collective trauma experiences, embodying strength and independence, and experiencing stereotypes about their sexual and multiracial identities. The impact of mental distress resulted in lowered quality of life and reported self-harmful thoughts and behaviors. Finally, positive responses to mental distress included body, mind, and spirit and community-centered responses as well as resistance to cultural norms and expectations and non-disclosure as a form of self-preservation. These findings led to an integrative (not) being-in-distress framework and a new critical approach to mental health and healing that informed anti-oppressive social work research, practice, and education.
ContributorsThomas, DeShay (Author) / Holley, Lynn C (Thesis advisor) / Jackson, Kelly F (Committee member) / Mendoza, Natasha (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
How to best assist LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization is a developing field of knowledge. This study aimed to understand sex trafficking risk factors for LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness through the 2019 Youth Experiences Survey (2019 YES) and 16 follow-up interviews. The main findings include a) the odds of being LGBTQ+ and experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization were 2.41 times greater (95% CI: 1.22, 4.74) than being a cisgender heterosexual experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization; and b) risk factors that contributed significantly to a binary logistic regression model to predict being an LGBTQ+ young adult experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization included having a current medical issue, having a history of dating violence, having a childhood history of sexual abuse (ACEs sexual abuse), having a history of binging/vomiting, and having a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The interviews back up quantitative data for contextualization purposes. The findings of this study confirm the need for more services for LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization. Additionally, healthcare providers must consider screening for eating disorders among LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization. Finally, future research on LGBTQ+ young adults experiencing homelessness and reporting sex trafficking victimization is recommended.
ContributorsHogan, Kimberly Ann (Author) / Roe-Sepowitz, Dominique (Thesis advisor) / Mendoza, Natasha (Committee member) / Anthony, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022