About The Study...

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This study is designed to examine the mental health status and coping strategies of women who identify as Black during the dual health and racial pandemics of 2020 toward the goal of better understanding the effects of these dual pandemics on mental health and functioning, and in order to illuminate potential pathways to healing and resilience. This study is important because Black women have historically been underrepresented within health services research, which has led to generalizations concerning women’s health based largely on non-Black samples, and contributed to a lack of understanding concerning determinants of health and wellbeing.

The study will use social media discourse analysis, electronic survey (multiple administrations at predetermined intervals), focus groups, and interviews.

Survey (start HERE)

If you agree to participate in this study, you will be asked to do all of the following:

1. Complete the electronic consent for an electronic survey. You can read the consent form HERE before you begin the survey. The survey will take approximately 15 min to complete. The survey should be taken in a private place using a private browser in incognito mode.

2. Provide your email address, cell phone number (all of which is optional)

3. Asked to share the survey link with others who may be interested in participating in the study. Submitting this information is optional and will be used to invite respondents to participate in subsequent phases of the research study. Additional information on those aspects of the study will be made available on the research website as they are developed and implemented.

The total amount of time that you will be participating in this study is 15 – 20 minutes

Focus Group

1. A subset of survey participants will receive an email soliciting participation in a focus group. They will be provided options based on their age and location (urban vs. rural).

2. They will receive a link (and instructions for configuring their computer for Zoom) to the virtual focus group to be hosted on Zoom. When participants sign up for a timeslot, they will receive the link to sign the consent form at that time.

3. They will participate in a 90-120 minute focus group with 12 to 15 other participants. The focus group will be video and audio recorded to the Cloud via Zoom. The recordings will be transcribed by a professional transcription service or the research team depending upon available resources. One week prior to the focus group, participants will be asked to complete a brief online survey regarding current events that may be relevant to the study (e.g., killing of a Black person, election, vaccine available, etc.)

Interview

1. Focus group participants that were particularly informative during the focus groups will receive an invitation to participate in a one on one interview via email and then phone.

2. When participants sign up for a timeslot, they will receive the link to sign the consent form at that time.

3. Interview participants will participate in a 60-90 minute interview via Zoom. The interview will be video and audio recorded to the Cloud via Zoom. The recordings will be transcribed by a professional transcription service or the research team depending upon available resources.

4. Participants will be invited (this will be optional) to submit a picture to be included in photovoice dissemination strategies.

Photovoice

Finally, respondents will be asked to participate in photovoice. Participants who are the most representative of all the respondents in the study will be selected to tell their stories through a visual depiction using photography and stories of their photographs to identify and represent issues that are most important to them. This will be no more than 20 women that exemplify the study's findings. These participants will submit their photographs and stories to the researchers through a Google folder set up specifically for the participant.

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