Annette Bailey

The mediating role of social support, cognitive appraisal, and quality health care in black mothers' stress-resilience process following loss to gun violence.

Although much attention has been granted to the perpetrators and victims of gun violence, limitations exist in our understanding of the psychological well-being of parents grieving children lost to gun violence. The purpose of this study was to examine the mediating effects of social support, cognitive appraisal, and quality health care on the relationship between traumatic stress and resilience among Black mothers bereaving children to gun violence. A cross-sectional design and network sampling method were used to recruit 48 Black mothers living in a large Canadian city. Participants completed a survey either by phone or in person. Social support and positive appraisal were found to be protective factors of resilience for study participants. The traumatic stress experienced by the sample decreased with increased social support (β = −.291, p = .045), leading to an increase of their resilience (β = .297, p = .032). With positive appraisal of the loss, the stress levels of study participants decreased (β = −.334, p = .023), leading to increased resilience (β = .441, p = .003). Quality health care showed a significant positive relationship with the resilience of the women (β = .313, p = .023) but did not mediate the relationship between their stress and resilience. For Black mothers who experience loss of a child to gun violence, policy and social change efforts should focus on strengthening their access to formal and informal supports and improving their abilities to find meaning in their loss.

Enhancing Critical Reflection of Brazilian Community Health Agents’ Awareness of Social Determinants of Health

This project aims to assess how Brazilian community health agents’ critical awareness of the social determinants of health was enhanced and led to a greater understanding of the major structural changes necessary to sustain health promotion initiatives. Educational workshops inspired by Paulo Freire’s ideas on critical pedagogy were delivered to 82 community health agents in three Brazilian cities. The workshops utilized evocative objects to link and develop participants’ conceptual and experiential knowledge. The participants exchanged connections and experiences and created hypothetical action plans to be implemented in collaboration with community members. The discussions were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and submitted to content analysis. The connections provoked by evocative objects were related to required assets for the development of a healthy community. As social advocates, they are already committed to a social movement for health equity to catalyze a more equitable distribution of social goods, promote social inclusion, and liberate communities.

Ethnicity, Race, Oppression, and Social Work: The Canadian Case

In 1987, the Canadian Association of Schools of Social Work adopted policies and accreditation standards that reflect the professions commitment to address issues of race, ethnicity, and cultural diversity in its programs and curricula. Task force recommendations to emphasize antiracism in schools of social work were contested and resisted. Since then, various shifts in perspectives have emerged and adopted in social work to varying degrees. Despite efforts to advance antiracism, and more specifically anti-Black racism and anticolonialism in social work education, anti-oppression has been more palatable to mainstream social workers. To advance the profession, these perspectives must be understood and addressed.

Social support and Black mothers’ bereavement experience of losing a child to gun homicide

Abstract Social support is important in facilitating survivors’ psychological adaptation following loss to violent deaths. Although literature shows a positive relationship between social support and Black mothers’ resilience after loss of a child to gun violence, no other evidence exists to clarify this relationship. This study used grounded-theory methodology to explore social support among 10 Black mothers following the loss of their children to gun homicide. The findings of the study showed that the mothers experienced altered relationships with friends and families following their loss, which left them feeling isolated in their grief process. Understanding social support in Black mothers’ bereavement is important in devising appropriate interventions for them.

Mentors' and mentees' intellectual-partnership through the lens of the Transformative Learning Theory

In this paper we report reflections about the scholarly mentoring experiences of undergraduate nursing students (mentees) and faculty members (mentors) involved in an intellectual partnership at a Canadian university. The paper specifically recounts the impacts of the transformative process experienced by 18 mentees and three mentors, based on their in-depth written critical reflections. In this collaborative initiative, the constructivist framework of Shor and Freire, and Mezirows Transformative Learning Theory, served as foundations for all interactions between mentees and mentors, and guided the analysis and interpretation of their written self-reflections. Mentees and mentors were motivated by complementary goals for the intellectual relationships. Their combined contexts, self-reflective, critical dialogue, shared assumptions and ideas worked to ignite a critical awareness of their potential and self in their professional world. Sharing new ways of thinking and points of view stimulated their transformation on various levels -emotional, cognitive, and spiritual.

Taking action on violence through research, policy, and practice

BackgroundViolence is a critical public health problem associated with compromised health and social suffering that are preventable. The Centre for Global Health and Health Equity organized a forum in 2014 to identify: (1) priority issues related to violence affecting different population groups in Canada, and (2) strategies to take action on priority issues to reduce violence-related health inequities in Canada. In this paper, we present findings from the roundtable discussions held at the Forum, offer insights on the socio-political implications of these findings, and provide recommendations for action to reduce violence through research, policy and practice.MethodsOver 60 academic researchers, health and social service agency staff, community advocates and graduate students attended the daylong Forum, which included presentations on structural violence, community violence, gender-based violence, and violence against marginalized groups. Detailed notes taken at the roundtables were analyzed by the first author using a thematic analysis technique.FindingsThe thematic analysis identified four thematic areas: 1) structural violence perpetuates interpersonal violence - the historical, social, political and economic marginalization that contributes to personal and community violence. 2) social norms of gender-based violence—the role of dominant social norms in perpetuating the practice of violence, especially towards women, children and older adults; 3) violence prevention and mitigation programs—the need for policy and programming to address violence at the individual/interpersonal, community, and societal levels; and 4) research gaps—the need for comprehensive research evidence made up of systematic reviews, community-based intervention and evaluation of implementation research to identify effective programming to address violence.ConclusionsThe proceedings from the Global Health and Health Equity Forum underscored the importance of recognizing violence as a public health issue that requires immediate and meaningful communal and structural investment to break its historic cycles. Based on our thematic analysis and literature review, four recommendations are offered: (1) Support and adopt policies to prevent or reduce structural violence; (2) Adopt multi-pronged strategies to transform dominant social norms associated with violence; (3) Establish standards and ensure adequate funding for violence prevention programs and services; and (4) Fund higher level ecological research on violence prevention and mitigation.

Intersecting Individual, Social, and Cultural Factors in Black Mothers Resilience Building Following Loss to Gun Violence in Canada

Introduction: Black mothers’ post-homicide experiences are grounded in social and cultural complexities which shape their resilience trajectory. This chapter explores the resilience experience of Black mothers following the loss of their children to gun violence.