The article
written by Bryant, Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, “Too Blessed to be
Stressed” is about rural African American males, whom have strong ties in faith
based communities, and their perceptions about the experiences they had with
depression (2013). The authors strongly believe that faith based communities
are better equipped to handle African American men’s depression because most African
American’s use prayer as a treatment method for depressive symptoms rather than
clinical treatments (Bryant et. al, 2013). Because depression symptoms are
usually misdiagnosed in African American men due to cultural differences, the authors
used interviews to explain how African American’s view and express their own
depression symptoms within their faith based communities in hopes that better
methods can be applied to helping them overcome their depression.
The African American faith based
community have a more negative view of depression among their men due to
cultural teachings; these men tend to deny experiencing depression because of
negative stigmas that surrounds their symptoms (anger, aggression, substance
use, impulsive behavior, etc.) (Bryant, Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig,
2013). They truly believe they are more likely to be incarcerated, hospitalized
or experience some form of job discrimination (Bryant et. al, 2013). The social
issue, research question, social work practice relevance and purpose of the
study was conveyed very well. I did not have any issues with the descriptions
the authors gave.
The theoretical framework wasn’t really
mentioned due to the article being a qualitative research. The organization of
the literature review and the concepts of the nominal definitions and major
concepts was clear and easy to follow but there is some literature review that
isn’t very current and needs to be updated to reflect current times. Some of
the literature review was 10 to 15 years outdated and may not be accurate as
statistics can change every 10 years or so.
The type of study presented in the
qualitative article was an exploratory study. The data was then entered into an
ethnographic program. There didn’t seem to be any biases and the researchers
were trained to deliver the research methods. The coding used tested the
validity of each category that was being measured and didn’t seem to present any
issues.
Sampling
The authors used a small sample in
this research as convenience sampling was used to get their participants. The
author used nonprobability with their sample because they could only get participants
who would agree to participate from select churches. The sample selected isn’t
very strong because it does not fully represent the rural African American
faith based community since it was confined to select churches and members. The
lead researcher and community partner recruited individuals through personal
contacts in the community (Bryant, Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, 2013).
The authors mentioned their reasoning for getting participants in Northeast
Arkansas was due to the 2010 Census showing that the area has the largest
African American population (Bryant et. al, 2013). The sample size used
included 24 people with 16 being male and 8 being female. Because this research
focused on African American males, only people of color were studied but the
sample size of women wasn’t equal to the sample size of men. The authors acknowledged
that their sample and size used showed limitations within their research. A different
strategy for gathering the participants should have been used. First, instead
of focusing only on the rural population, the author should have focused on
African American’s across the U.S., since the literature review mentions
African Americans as a whole and not only those in the rural area. Also, the
sample size should have been vaster. Since they decided to use a community leader
to recruit participants, they should have recruited more community leaders
because this could have given them a larger sample size that represents more
the faith based community.
Design
The
methodological approach is appropriate for the research question although
instead of conducting interviews, surveys could have been just as effective. Surveys
are easier to measure than interviews because everyone’s answers vary so
drastically. With interviews, a person may not always give a clear cut response
as with a survey, the questions and responses are clearly defined. The authors
conducted the research in private rooms, restaurants, conference rooms, and
churches; following the research they gave everyone a 25-dollar gift card. (Bryant,
Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, 2013).
Each
participant comes from different educational backgrounds. Some participants had
high school educations while others had as high as graduate degrees. The participants
also varied with social economic statuses, from income below the poverty line
and as much as over 100,000 dollars a year. The descriptions are relevant to
aid in judgment of the situations but it does explain why the study findings
slightly varied from what the authors were hoping to find. People of different
educational background and social economic status will most likely have
differing views.
Conclusions
The
results find that many African Americans in rural faith based communities view
depression from a social and environmental standpoint and it’s not easily
solvable through their faith as many of them deny experiencing symptoms (Bryant,
Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, 2013). The conclusion is directly related to
the findings of the research. The authors offer different explanations, based on
their results, as to why the findings did not relate to previous studies. The
main reason is because the African Americans did not view depression from a symptomatic
and clinical standpoint thus making treatment seeking almost obsolete (Bryant,
Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, 2013). The authors did not mention any
participants that did not fit their findings. It is assumed that they did not
have any outliers. The findings are discussed in terms of their content and
method as it focuses only on the results from the interview and the way it was
gathered.
Though
the authors mention the limitation with the research sample and size, they do
not mention any other limitations. There are other limitations with this research
article. As mentioned previously, some of the literature review seems to be
outdated and may not be representative of today’s time period. Also, the transcripts
do not give much detail about the interview itself. The authors do not reveal
what questions were asked and if these same questions were asked of each participant.
Very little statistical information is revealed about the findings.
The
study doesn’t seem to have any ethical issues as it is current with today’s ethical
standards; no trade-offs are made between the different ethical guidelines.
They seemed to follow everything from the principle of community-based participatory
research ethical guidelines (Bryant, Haynes, Greer-Williams and Hartwig, 2013).
The authors made sure to give each participant Human Subjects Protection
Training before conducting the research.
Although
this research article has its limitations, there are some strengths that contribute
to social work evidence-based practice. This article shows a huge disconnect in
the African American community with major depressive disorders. Since many
individuals in the African American community cannot seem to recognize the
symptoms of the disorder from a clinical standpoint, many do not seek treatment
and continue to have lifetime suffering. With the information this article has
provided, future research can focus on different methods or techniques to reach
the African American communities. Educated the African American community on
major depressive disorders could be essential to properly diagnosing those who
suffer from it. Since there is likely a cultural disconnect with clinical professionals
such as social workers and doctors, more training can be implemented in
practice in order for them to recognize different symptoms among ethnic
cultures.
_________________________
References
Bryant, K., Haynes. T.,
Greer-Williams, N., & Hartwig, S., M. (2013). Too blessed to be stressed: A
rural faith community’s views of African American males and depression. Journal of Religion and Health,
53, 796-808. doi: 10.1007/s10943-012-9672-z
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