Perceptions of Obese African American Women Regarding Altering Traditional  Soul Food Preparation

The obesity epidemic continues to be a major concern in the United States. The World Health Organization reported that 1.4 billion adults were either obese or overweight African American (AA) women have the highest incidence of obesity worldwide. A qualitative descriptive study was used to explore the perceptions of obese AA women about altering how they prepare soul food to make it healthier. The empowerment model and the health belief model were used to frame this study. Data were collected using a nonprobability purposeful sampling strategy. The sample for this study consisted of four focus groups with six to seven obese AA women ages 21–90 who prepared and consumed high-calorie soul foods and had a body mass index ³30. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using a constant comparative analysis. It was found that obese AA women were willing to alter their traditional soul food preparation only if it tastes good, recipes are available, it is cost effective, and it produces minimum food waste. Barriers that could limit participation in an intervention as well as recommendations for designing interventions are discussed.

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Structural Violence of Schooling: A Genealogy of a Critical Family History of Three Generations of African American Women in a Rural Community in Florida

Genealogy ◽

10.3390/genealogy5010020 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 20

Author(s):

Evelyn Newman Phillips ◽

Wangari Gichiru

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

Family History ◽

African American Women ◽

White Supremacy ◽

Structural Violence ◽

The United States ◽

Structural Barriers ◽

American Women ◽

Three Generations ◽

American Children

Through the lens of structural violence, Black feminism and critical family history, this paper explores how societal structures informed by white supremacy shaped the lives of three generations of rural African American women in a family in Florida during the middle to the late twentieth century. Specifically, this study investigates how disparate funding, segregation, desegregation, poverty and post-desegregation policies shaped and limited the achievement trajectories among these women. Further, an oral historical examination of their lives reveals the strategies they employed despite their under-resourced and sometimes alienating schooling. The paper highlights the experiences of the Newman family, descendants of captive Africans in the United States that produced three college-educated daughters and a granddaughter despite structural barriers that threatened their progress. Using oral history interviews, archival resources and first-person accounts, this family’s story reveals a genealogy of educational achievement, barriers and agency despite racial and gendered limitations in a Southern town. The findings imply that their schooling mirrors many of the barriers that other Blacks face. However, this study shows that community investment in African American children, plus teachers that affirm students, and programs such as Upward Bound, help to advance Black students in marginalized communities. Further, these women’s lives suggest that school curriculums need to be anti-racist and public policies that affirm each person regardless of the color of their skin. A simple solution that requires the structural violence of whiteness be eliminated from the schooling spheres.

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P372 Bacterial vaginosis and high-risk human papillomavirus coinfection among african american women in the united states

10.1136/sextrans-2019-sti.474 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Purnima Madhivanan ◽

Makella Coudray ◽

Daniel Ruiz-Perez ◽

Brett Colbert ◽

Karl Krupp ◽

...

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

African American ◽

Human Papillomavirus ◽

High Risk ◽

Bacterial Vaginosis ◽

African American Women ◽

The United States ◽

American Women

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“I Don’t Know and I Don’t Want to Know”: A Qualitative Examination of Older African American Women’s Knowledge and Experiences With HIV

Journal of Black Psychology ◽

10.1177/0095798418813222 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 44 (7) ◽

pp. 644-666 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Faye Z. Belgrave ◽

Sarah J. Javier ◽

Deborah Butler ◽

Chelsie Dunn ◽

Joann Richardson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

African American Women ◽

Black Church ◽

The United States ◽

Sociocultural Factors ◽

Hiv Knowledge ◽

Female Population ◽

American Women ◽

Heterosexual Women ◽

Older African American Women

While older African American women (e.g., aged 50 years and older) comprise only 11% of the female population in the United States, they account for 50% of HIV diagnoses among women in this age group. Unique sociocultural factors, including a lack of HIV knowledge and stigma, contribute to HIV risk among older African American women. The goal of this qualitative study was to obtain a nuanced perspective from older African American women about HIV knowledge and experiences with HIV using the framework of intersectionality theory. Focus groups were conducted with 35 African American women who were 50 years and older, nonpartnered, and heterosexual. Women were asked what they knew about HIV and if they thought older women were at risk for HIV. A thematic analysis using NVivo 11 yielded two central themes and three subthemes: HIV knowledge, including experiential knowledge, superficial knowledge, and no knowledge, and stigma around HIV in the Black church. Implications for developing HIV prevention programs and testing messages are discussed.

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African American Women and Domestic Violence: Addressing their Voice of Silence

10.35455/brk12345678 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Bernice Kennedy ◽

Chalice Rhodes (Former Jenkins)

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

Domestic Violence ◽

African American ◽

Black Women ◽

African American Women ◽

White Women ◽

The United States ◽

Slave Owner ◽

American Women ◽

Strong Black Women

Abstract Historically, during slavery, the international slave trade promoted normalization of violence against African American women. During slavery, African American women endured inhuman conditions because of the majority race views of them as being over-sexualized, physically strong, and immoral. This perception of the African American women as being highly sexual and more sexual than white women results in slave owner justifying their sexual violation and degrading of the African American women. The stereotypical representations of African American women as strong, controlling, dangerous, fearless, and invulnerable may interfere with the African American women receiving the needed services for domestic violence in the community. The Strong Black Women Archetype has been dated back to slavery describing their coping mechanism in dealing with oppression by developing a strong, less traditionally female role. The authors developed a model: The Multidimensional Perspectives of Factors Contributing to Domestic Violence of African American Women in the United States. This model depicts historically, the factors contributing to domestic violence of African American women in the United States. Also, this model addressed the African American women subscribing to the Strong Black Women Archetype to cope with domestic violence. Despite the increase in domestic violence in African American women, they focused more on the issue of racism instead of sexism in America. African American women have experienced the two obstacles of racism and sexism in America. However, African American women and men believe racism is more critical than sexism. Therefore, domestic violence in the African American population may remain silent because of cultural loyalty. However, the voice of silence of African American females is gradually changing with the upcoming generations.

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Acculturative status, age, and hypertension among African American women

International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health ◽

10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20211722 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 8 (5) ◽

pp. 2083

Author(s):

Fern J. Webb ◽

Christina Jones ◽

Ross Jones ◽

Kristen Morga ◽

Lori Bilello ◽

...

Keyword(s):

African American ◽

African American Women ◽

Cultural Beliefs ◽

The United States ◽

Population Based ◽

Health Interventions ◽

Traditional Values ◽

American Women ◽

Using Data ◽

Research Assistants

Background: Understanding culture’s impact on hypertension (HTN) is important since its prevalence in African American women (AAW) in the United States is among the highest. It is therefore important to know if younger AAW have similar acculturation status as older AAW when developing culturally relevant interventions. The objective of this study was to examine the association between acculturation status and age, determining whether acculturation status and age are significantly associated with hypertension among AAW.Methods: Acculturation status, age, and HTN were analyzed using data from the listening to our voices study (LOVS), a population-based observational study of 294 AAW conducted throughout Florida. LOVS was promoted via African American women research assistants trained to inform and recruit AAW living in Ft. Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa.Results: Findings demonstrate that AAW held traditional values regardless of age. Moreover, AAW of younger ages had higher average acculturation scores compared with older AAW indicating stronger agreement with traditional values, practices and beliefs. Acculturation subscale scores were not associated with HTN. AAW with HTN scored higher on the traditional food subscale compared to AAW without HTN.Conclusions: These findings indicate the significance of considering the beliefs, values, and practices of AAW when developing health interventions. Health interventions developed should be tailored toward AAW of varying ages to incorporate activities relevant to their cultural beliefs, values and practices.

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Gene-Environment Interaction for Hypertension Among African American Women Across Generations

Biological Research For Nursing ◽

10.1177/1099800410371225 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 149-155 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Jacquelyn Y. Taylor ◽

Yan V. Sun ◽

Steven C. Hunt ◽

Sharon L.R. Kardia

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

African American ◽

African American Women ◽

Cytosolic Calcium ◽

The United States ◽

Environment Interaction ◽

Chromosome 2 ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Offspring Cohort ◽

American Women

African American women have the highest prevalence of hypertension and obesity of any group in the United States. African American girls have the highest incidence of obesity of any groups of children in the nation, and diagnoses of hypertension have been rising among this group. Because both genetic heredity and body mass index (BMI) are important risk factors for hypertension, this study examined the gene-BMI interaction for hypertension across the lifespan in two generations of African American women. Participants comprised of 868 African American women in the parent cohort and 322 in the offspring cohort from the Hypertension Genetic Epidemiology Network (HyperGEN) study, part of the Family Blood Pressure Program (FBPP). A total of 115 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were evaluated among the parent cohort and 491 among the offspring cohort for tests of SNP-BMI interaction using methods of false discovery rate (FDR; <.20) and examination of minor allele frequency (MAF; >.05) and Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (>.10). One SNP (located in the CAPN 13 gene, rs1879282) passed adjustments for the multiple testing mentioned above and had a significant (p < .01) gene-BMI interaction on both systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) among African American female offspring. The rs1879282 SNP is located on chromosome 2 on the calpain (CAPN) 13 gene, which is part of a family of cytosolic calcium-activated proteases involved in apoptosis, cell division, modulation of integrin—cytoskeletal interactions, and synaptic plasticity. This SNP was not available for testing in the African American parent cohort.

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Uprooting Racism: The Role of Nurses in Cultivating Improved Maternal Outcomes for Black and African American Women

Creative Nursing ◽

10.1891/crnr-d-20-00066 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 61-65

Author(s):

Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler ◽

Angela Richard-Eaglin

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

African American ◽

African American Women ◽

Allostatic Load ◽

The United States ◽

Individual Risk ◽

Maternal Outcomes ◽

Structural Racism ◽

Practice Nurses ◽

Individual Risk Factors

After controlling for education, socioeconomic status, and genetic factors, Black and African American patients in the United States are three to four times more likely to die in childbirth than are White patients. The literature is replete with strategies to improve maternal outcomes for Black and African American patients. Existing strategies focus on addressing poverty and individual risk factors to reduce maternal mortality, yet maternal outcomes are not improving for these patients in the United States. Recent literature suggests that a nuanced approach that considers the effects of individual and structural racism could improve maternal outcomes, especially for Black and African American patients. As nurses comprise the largest component of the health-care system, their collective power and influence can provide a powerful tool for dismantling structural racism. Some important concepts to consider regarding the care of the Black and African American population are cultural intelligence (CQ), allostatic load, and humanitarian ethos. By developing CQ and consistently including the four CQ capabilities (drive/motivation, knowledge/cognition, strategy/metacognition, and behavior/action) in all aspects of practice, nurses can help to uproot racism and cultivate experience to improve maternal health outcomes for Black and African American patients.

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