Date of Conferral

2021

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Dorothy Scotten

Abstract

Community violence is a type of trauma commonly experienced in inner cities. Qualitative methods and hermeneutic phenomenology were used to identify connections of low use of professional mental health services by African American men in inner-city settings to chronic exposure to trauma. Sotero’s historical trauma theory was used to explain how minority men process trauma in present-day circumstances. Purposeful sampling was used to select seven African American men in Detroit, Michigan who self-reported exposure to community violence. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and analyzed using three steps: transcribing; listening, reading, and analyzing; and coding using inductive and deductive analysis. Four major themes were identified; family support, community influence, health, and help-seeking behaviors. The results suggested elevated exposure to community violence for African American men in Detroit but did not connect low use of professional mental health services to psychological distress or negative views about mental health services. Furthermore, African American men have learned to embrace their trauma responses as a valuable tool necessary for surviving or avoiding personal experiences with community violence in Detroit rather than a barrier to their personal growth and success of communities. These results were also consistent with literature stating African American men have been understudied and underrepresented in literature involving trauma. Implications for positive social change include conducting additional studies on African American men who have been chronically exposed to trauma and incorporating their ideas for improving mental health into the development of effective interventions.

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