Date of Conferral
2021
Degree
Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.)
School
Psychology
Advisor
Kristen Chesser
Abstract
African American women are disproportionately affected by fibroids, and many of them have reported health care experiences of discrimination, biases, and differential care that have affected their overall health significantly. African American women are less likely to receive necessary clinical services and often choose not to seek professional help for psychological symptoms. Discriminating experiences and the suppression of internal struggles has resulted in African American women coping independently with loneliness, anxiety, and depression. There is a need for health care providers to analyze their care management of African American women’s fibroid concerns and to provide interactions and interventions that focus on decreasing health disparities. In this qualitative study, the ways that a small for-profit organization managed the fibroid concerns and symptoms of African American women and how the organization could best support their psychological well-being were explored. The Baldrige excellence framework was the conceptual framework used to identify critical aspects of the organization’s strategies, leadership, and operations. Data were collected through four semistructured interviews with members of the organization and a review of the organization’s website and internal documents. Findings indicated ways health care providers acknowledge the discriminatory history of African Americans and ways they address their concerns. The potential for positive social change lies in the opportunity to gain insight into the care management of this population and decrease negative health care experiences in the African American community.
Recommended Citation
Green, Sadio Noni, "Health Care Providers’ Responses to Fibroid Prevalence Among African American Women" (2021). Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies. 10797.
https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/10797
