The Mediating Role of Social Support, Cognitive Appraisal, and Quality Health Care in Black Mothers’ Stress-Resilience Process Following Loss to Gun Violence

Abstract

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 (beta = -.291, p = .045), leading to an increase of their resilience (beta = .297, p = .032). With positive appraisal of the loss, the stress levels of study participants decreased (beta = -.334, p = .023), leading to increased resilience (beta = .441, p = .003). Quality health care showed a significant positive relationship with the resilience of the women (beta = .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.

On PAR: A feasibility study of the Promoting Adult Resilience programme with mental health nurses

“…The nonsignificant but meaningful improvement in the Self‐Regulatory: Cognitive subscale of the WRI in the current study is consistent with wider research indicating that resilient responses to stressors involve adaptive cognitive appraisal and processing of situations (Bailey et al . ). This is an important finding that could be explored in future research.…”

“…This involves a series of protective factors and processes that support the restoration of well-being and performance (King & Rothstein 2010). The manner in which a person responds to stressors is influenced by their cognitive appraisal of situations and their capacity to process stressors, with the subsequent understanding and integration of stressors to their life (Bailey et al 2013). Resilience, therefore, encompasses both internal and external processes, resources, and characteristics that strengthen individuals' adaptive responses and outcomes from adverse events (McLarnon & Rothstein 2013).…”

Self-efficacy and self-rated oral health among pregnant aboriginal Australian women

“…Relevant psychosocial determinants in regards to the efficacy/health relationship include perceived stress, sense of control, social support and perceived standing in society [9], while fatalism is a key component of Bandura’s social cognitive theory relating to self-efficacy and health [10]. …”

Women's Mental Health

“…As a result, Black mothers unduly suffer from gun violence loss and bear the social, emotional, and fi nancial burden of survivorship. Our research with Black mothers has shown that following the loss of children to gun violence they struggled with increased traumatic stress, diminished social and formal supports, and decreased access to psychological services and victims compensation (Bailey, Sharma, & Jubin, 2013 ;Bailey, Clarke, & Salami, 2015 ). Racism is of particular importance in Black mothers' grieving and resilience processes.…”

“…Given the scarcity of research focusing on Black women's experience with gun violence loss (Bailey, Sharma, & Jubin, 2013 ;Burke, Neimeyer, & McDevitt-Murphy, 2010 ), research that critically examines the dominant paradigms relevant to race, culture, and context that shape survivors' resilience experience is needed. Specifi cally, the post-homicide experiences of Black mothers, who are disproportionately affected by loss to gun violence, should be explored in light of service gaps and the need for improvements and informal supports to enhance the capacity of families and friends to provide ongoing support.…”