Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Human Services

Advisor

Dorothy Seabrook

Abstract

African American women face some of the highest incarceration and recidivism rates among their female counterparts within the United States. The purpose of this generic qualitative research was to explore African American women’s experiences of self-care amid multiple recidivism incidents and related health and psychosocial environmental challenges. The theoretical frameworks of Orem’s self-care and Gorski’s post incarceration syndrome theories were used for this study. Data were collected using semi structured phone interviews. The study participants included 16 formerly incarcerated African American women, ages 18 years and older, recruited through social media via Facebook postings. Data analysis included interview transcriptions, sentence coding, and categorizing, resulting in emerging themes. The eight themes developed were: (a) support systems were important for self-care, (b) need to focus on and prioritize holistic health for self-care, (c) age at first incarceration influenced self-care and coping skills, (d) lack of self-care skills led to incarceration, (e) needing to change to avoid recidivism, (f) dealing with residual effects of incarceration, (g) difficulties in addressing mental and emotional health challenges, and (h) resources needed to reduce recidivism. The findings of this study align with the social determinants of health within the domain of social and community context. The study reveals the impact that the lack of positive social support can have on an individual’s health and wellness throughout their processes of self-care, reentry, and episodes of recidivism. The findings of this study have potential implications for positive social change that include contributing to the knowledge and academic domain in the areas of self-care, incarceration, recidivism, and reentry

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