Date of Conferral

6-30-2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Christopher Kladopoulos

Abstract

African American/Black (AA/B) women are more likely than other women in the United States to give birth prematurely. Experiencing premature birth and infant hospitalization in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) during the COVID-19 pandemic may have negatively affected AA/B mothers’ mental health and led them to experience elevated rates of increased posttraumatic stress disorders, depression, anxiety, and postpartum depression. The purpose of this study was to understand the lived mental health experiences of AA/B mothers of infants in the NICU during COVID-19. Feminist theory provided a lens for understanding intersectionality in the experiences of AA/B mothers. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 10 AA/B mothers. The hermeneutic phenomenological model was used to explore the discursive meaning of participants’ lived mental health experiences with a newborn in the NICU during the pandemic. Five themes were identified that capture the participants' experiences: circumscribed mental health opportunities, racial disparities in health care interactions, COVID-19 restrictions as multipliers of maternal vulnerability, fragmentation of support systems, and maternal resilience and strategic self-advocacy. The findings clarify possible barriers to mental health interventions. The study’s implications for positive social change include raising mental health providers’ awareness of tools, interventions, training, and techniques they need to better assist the study population.

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