Tanya L. Sharpe

We Fall Down: The African American Experience of Coping With the Homicide of a Loved One

Rates of homicide among African Americans are much higher than those of other racial or ethnic groups. Research has demonstrated that homicide can be psychologically debilitating for surviving family members. Yet, exploring the experiences of homicide victims’ surviving loved ones has received little attention. This study examined the coping strategies of African American survivors of homicide. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 8 African American family members (ages 18-82) of homicide victims. Survivors were recruited from the Massachusetts Office of Victim Services and from homicide survivor support, school, and community groups throughout the New England area. Interviews were conducted using open-ended questions derived from coping, support network, grief, and bereavement literatures. Results indicate that the primary coping strategies utilized by African American survivors of homicide victims are spiritual coping and meaning making, maintaining a connection to the deceased, collective coping and caring for others, and concealment. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Sources of Support for African-American Family Members of Homicide Victims

ABSTRACT The rates of homicide within the African-American community indicate a population overwhelmingly impacted by traumatic grief and loss. A qualitative study was conducted to: (1) discover the support networks that are utilized by African-American family members who are surviving the homicide of a loved one; (2) gain insight relative to understanding the post-homicide experience of African-American surviving family members. A purposive sample of five African-American survivors participated in a semi-structured interview. Findings indicated that the informal social support provided by immediate and extended family, fictive kin and friends was the primary source of support that was used to cope with the homicide of their loved ones. However, respondents indicated a need to incorporate formal social support systems (e.g., therapeutic interventions) to help them cope with their grief. Respondents identified distrust of clinical and research institutions, fear of stigmatization, and level of comfort with clinicians, as potential barriers to seeking support for African-American family members who are surviving the homicide of a loved one. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Understanding the Sociocultural Context of Coping for African American Family Members of Homicide Victims A Conceptual Model

The disproportionate representation of African American survivors of homicide victims places them at greater risk for compromised mental health. However, an examination of factors that influence how this population copes with this traumatic event is absent from the literature. This article elucidates the importance of sociocultural factors that influence coping resources and strategies for African Americans surviving the homicide of a loved one. A socioculturally responsive model of coping is presented that can be utilized in furthering the development of research and practice that is culturally responsive to the needs of African American survivors of homicide victims.

Suicide Prevention in Social Work Education: How Prepared Are Social Work Students?

The prevalence of suicide suggests social workers will encounter clients at risk for suicide, but research shows social workers receive little to no training on suicide and suicide prevention and feel unprepared to work effectively with clients at risk. Baseline results from a randomized intervention study of the Question, Persuade, and Refer suicide prevention gatekeeper training with 73 advanced master’s of social work student interns show suicide knowledge was average, attitudes about suicide prevention were generally neutral, and use of suicide prevention practice skills was low. These results indicate an opportunity for enhancing student outcomes through training and inform social work education regarding necessary preparation for student interns and new graduates to identify and respond effectively to client suicide risk.

Psychotic Experiences in the Context of Police Victimization: Data From the Survey of Police–Public Encounters

Social defeat has been proposed as the common mechanism underlying several well-replicated risk factors for sub-threshold psychotic experiences (PEs) identified in epidemiological research. Victimization by the police may likewise be socially defeating among vulnerable individuals and, therefore, may be associated with elevated risk for PEs. However, no prior studies have examined the relation between police victimization and PEs. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to police victimization (ie, physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect) would be associated with increased odds for PEs in the Survey of Police-Public Encounters data (N = 1615), a general population sample of adults from 4 US cities. Respondents who reported each type of police victimization were more likely to report PEs in logistic regression analyses (all P < .01), most of which were significant even when adjusting for demographic variables, psychological distress, and self-reported crime involvement (adjusted OR range: 1.30 to 7.16). Furthermore, the prevalence of PEs increased with greater exposure to police victimization in a linear dose-response relation, OR (95% CI) = 1.44 (1.24-1.66). These findings suggest that police victimization is a clinically important and previously unreported risk factor for PEs in the urban US population. These findings support the need for community-based outreach efforts and greater police training to reduce the prevalence of this exposure, particularly in socially disadvantaged urban communities.

The Friendships of Women: Are there Differences between African Americans and Whites?

Research suggests that friendships often aid in the sustainability of longer, healthier lives and contribute to mental well-being. However, comparative research between how African American and White women carry out their friendships is limited. Based on qualitative interviews with 40 women (20 African American and 20 White), this article describes the nature of womens friendships and explores comparisons between these two groups of women. Findings relevant to the formation of friendships and the types of support that they provide can inform the design and implementation of clinical interventions, particularly those focused on relationship building.

Child welfare outcomes for youth in care as a result of parental death or parental incarceration

Every day, in the United States, children are removed from their homes and placed into state supervised out-of-home care because of concerns around their safety. These children enter care as a result of child abuse, child neglect, abandonment or some other reasons. Lost in most discussions of out-of-home care is the role that parental incarceration and parental death have on the trajectory of children through the child welfare system. In order to address this gap in the literature, the present study aims to compare youth in foster care as a result of parental death or youth in foster care as a result of parental incarceration with youth in care because of child maltreatment in terms of the length of time to achieve permanency. Holding all other variables constant, entering care as a result of parental death more than doubled the average time to exit (HR=2.32, SE=0.22), and these youth were significantly less likely to exit to permanency when compared to children entering care for other maltreatment reasons (OR=0.35, SE=0.24). Entering care as a result of parental incarceration led to a 24% longer time to exit (HR=1.24, SE=0.09) compared to children entering care for other maltreatment reasons. Findings suggest that a one-size-fits-all approach to policy and practice may not be useful to identifying permanent placements for children entering care as a result of parental death or incarceration.

Racial and Ethnic Determinants of Interracial and Ethnic Trust

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to discern which individual factors are associated with interracial/ethnic trust among a national probability sample of African Americans, Latinos, and non-Hispanic whites. Using national data from the 2000 Community Benchmark Survey, the multiple regression results indicate that, even after controlling for education and income, African Americans and Latinos reported significantly lower levels of interracial/ethnic trust than did non-Hispanic whites. Additionally, separate regression equations indicate that predictors associated with interracial/ethnic trust varied by racial and ethnic group. Implications and future research are discussed.

Exploring coping among urban youth through photovoice

Adolescent perspectives on coping are often explored through quantitative methods within a problem-focused paradigm. To better understand how urban adolescents define, perceive, and experience coping, this research used photovoice, a qualitative research method that employs co-creation of meaning and knowledge around photographic images. Twelve adolescents in the 9th-11th grades at a Baltimore City High School photographed images representing coping. They participated in focus groups to discuss how their pictures reflected coping and its relationship to decision-making, development, and academic success. Participants identified different types of coping, as well as strategies and resources in their homes, school, and community. They classified coping as “good” or “bad,” depending on its impact on themselves and others. They described how coping evolves and noted long-term consequences of different coping strategies, suggesting a future-oriented aspect to their understanding of the concept. Students presented these findings to key stakeholders including a congressional representative, the Baltimore City School Board, community members, and their peers. Study findings elucidate the importance of adolescent perspectives to the coping research literature. Moreover, findings can inform the development of school and community-based programs designed to foster coping among urban adolescents.

An ecological path model of use of violence among African American adolescents

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study used an ecological framework to understand the risk and protective factors associated with use of violence among African American adolescents ages 12–17 years (N = 2,328). Using data from the 2012 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the authors study identified different direct paths in predicting use of violence among African American adolescents. The authors then computed a multigroup analysis to determine whether significant gender differences exist in use of violence. Path analysis results suggest micro, meso, and macro factors significantly predicted violence use. The strongest predictor of use of violence among African American youth was parental conflicts. The multigroup analysis suggests that the pathways to use of violence significantly differ between African American boys and girls. Among African American boys, the strongest predictor of increased use of violence was parental conflicts; among African American girls, it was negative peer influence. Findings suggest that all 3 ecological domains and gender differences should be accounted for when developing prevention or intervention services that target use of violence among young African Americans.