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Driven by Purpose: Exploring Spirituality in Black Mothers’ Coping with Loss of Children to Gun Homicide

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Abstract

The death of a Black child to gun homicide presents unique and ongoing coping challenges for Black parents. Current studies have provided insights into the role of spirituality in facilitating adjustment after homicide loss. However, the extent to which spirituality serves as a viable coping resource for Black mothers, who are disproportionately affected by gun homicide deaths of their children, remains unexplored. This exploratory phenomenological study explored the role of spirituality as a healing resource in 15 Black mothers’ grief experiences following the loss of their children to gun homicide. Thematic analysis revealed the role of spirituality in helping Black mothers find purpose in their loss. Following the loss of their children, mothers’ spiritual values enabled them to come to the realization that the deaths served a purpose. Spirituality served as the fuel to strengthen and renew their purpose in their grief journey. Gun homicide grief experience is an entanglement of systemic inequality and racial oppression. Exploring spirituality as a coping resource in the grieving experiences of Black survivors serves as an opportunity for enhancing community-based, culturally relevant, and spiritually-informed interventions, to adequately meet their coping needs.

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Survivors of homicide loss are vulnerable to negative mental health outcomes, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complicated grief (CG). Meaning making in the aftermath of traumatic loss is hypothesized to be an adaptive process associated with reduced symptomatology. Homicide survivors (N = 57) completed the PTSD Checklist, Inventory of Complicated Grief–Revised, and Grief and Meaning Reconstruction Inventory (GMRI). Correlations were found between the GMRI Emptiness and Meaninglessness subscale and both PTSD and CG symptom severity. Results lend support to the notion that reduced meaning making is particularly salient to the expression of PTSD and CG among homicide survivors.
Article
Race-based structural inequities in the United States unequally burden Black boys, men, and families with managing life course vulnerability to violent injury, premature death, and homicide bereavement. Informed by sociocultural contexts of coping for Black homicide survivors and positive youth development research, we examined how religiosity and spirituality may function as developmental assets promoting pathways to safety and positive development for young Black men transitioning to adulthood in Baltimore. Qualitative interviews with 31 participants (ages 18–24) revealed that religiosity and spirituality: a) help young Black men process pain in the aftermath of homicide, construct meaning, and find hope, b) reduce fear of fatal victimization, c) protect against retaliatory violence and trauma recidivism, and, d) foster posttraumatic growth. Implications for research, policy, and practice to promote positive youth development are discussed.
Article
This article presents a magnification of Stage 2 of the Theory of Post-Homicide Spiritual Change, a three-stage grounded theory of spiritual change after homicide (Theory of PHSC). Having endured the disintegration of their belief systems in the immediate aftermath of murder (Stage 1), survivors turn in Stage 2 to a more extended process of grappling with a crisis of meaning. This Stage 2 process is presented within the framework of the meaning making model, with attention to spiritual meaning making and transcendental experiences. Findings can help service providers support homicide survivors throughout an intermediary stage of bereavement that is marked by a sense of stagnation and diminished well-being. By accompanying survivors through the difficult meaning making efforts that characterize this stage, providers can help position them to break free of intensive cognitive meaning making and gain forward momentum in Stage 3 of the Theory of PHSC and can focus on aspects of life that can help them successfully make meaning of their loss while positioning them to gain forward momentum.
Article
The critical review of the literature describes the definition clarity of spirituality, religion, and faith. These three terms are interchangeably used in the literature. However, each of these terms has its own definitions. For example, the term spirituality has more than 13 conceptual components. It is abstract and subjective and is different from religion and faith. Spirituality can be a connection to God, nature, others, and surrounding. Spirituality is associated with quality and meaning in life. Conversely, religion is attributed to traditional values and practices related to a certain group of people or faith. Religion is guided by tradition, rules, and culture. Religion is defined as a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices. Religion is the service or worship of God or the supernatural. Faith is often associated with religion and spirituality. Faith is more personal, subjective, and deeper than organized religion and relates to the relationship with God. The concept of spirituality lacks a professional understanding. It is imperative that the holistic view of nursing must strive to understand the definition of spirituality.
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This article presents results from seven focus groups (n = 27) with families and friends bereaved by homicide or suicide of a loved one, and focuses on spirituality and religion in the aftermath of these traumatic deaths. In exploring how these deaths affected participants’ spirituality and religion, several themes emerged: parental spirituality and intuition, finding comfort, internal challenges with spirituality and religion, and connection with spiritual and religious communities. Experiences and recommendations for responders are discussed. This research draws comparisons between homicides and suicides to elucidate participants’ unique spiritual and religious needs and better inform tailored approaches.
Article
The social and religious work of African-American women in New Orleans who mourn and memorialise the dead attends primarily to sons and grandsons, the young black men who are most frequently the victims of homicide. Based on ethnographic and historical research in two Christian congregations, this article examines the forms of relatedness that women have developed to support and advocate for each other, the displaced, and the deceased. Tracing more broadly the development of vulnerability and violence at the urban margins, I argue that this work unfolds in a continued context of social death, predicated on dominant and still racist determinations of human value. I thus examine the transformative potential of African-American religious women’s relational practices, highlighting in particular their assertion of black social and spiritual value, in the kingdom of God if not yet in the inclusive, just, and sustainable city and world they envision.
Article
Gun violence is a daily reality; mass shootings, from suburban enclaves to inner city parks, are commonplace. Yet, all violence, all death, all lives, and all gun shootings are not treated equal. This essay examines the ways that anti-Black racism and White privilege (White supremacy) infect discussions of gun violence. In examining a series of incidents, and the broader media/political discourse, this article concludes that race and space overdetermine who is afforded the rights of safety and security, and where violence is normalized, expected, and therefore nothing to worry about. Race, space, and class affect the legality and illegibility of gun violence.
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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.
Article
Limited research has focused on the aftermath of the homicide, namely, the families and friends of homicide victims left in the wake of the tragedy. The present study is a multisite study involving focus groups of families and friends of homicide victims and assessing participants’ resulting biopsychosocial consequences, their experiences with service providers, and whether or how their needs were met. This study is important to better understand their needs and to create a holistic systematic response to those most affected by homicide. The findings present recommendations regarding what approaches, resources, and services would be helpful for people who have had a loved one die by homicide, which may prove beneficial for academics, policymakers, practitioners, and medical responders.
Article
Loss of a child to gun violence is a traumatic experience that can leave parents in a state of trepidation, unable to find meaning. Meaning-making, learned from a cognitive system of appraisal, is central to their grieving process, especially in making sense of their loss. For black mothers, who are disproportionately affected by homicide loss, the phenomenon of making meaning remains overlooked. A sequential mixed-method approach is used to explore the cognitive process of black mothers in finding meaning and building resilience following loss of their children to gun violence. The quantitative aspect of this study demonstrated a relationship between black mothers' resilience and cognitive reappraisal (β = –0.476, t =–0.3.628, p = 0.001, R2 = 0.226, F(1,45) = 13.159, p = 0.001). A subsequent qualitative approach clarified how ten black mothers constructed meaning of their loss and built resilience, and the factors involved in this process. Content analysis showed that finding meaning and achieving personal growth were influenced by social and cultural factors and grounded in spirituality. Interventions for black mothers who suffer gun violence loss should consider these factors in promoting growth and recovery.
Article
This article discusses how disenfranchised grief, that is grief that has been invalidated in some manner, is experienced by African Canadians who have lost friends and family to gun-related violence. It is based on research findings suggesting that the violent deaths of young black men are partly rooted in racial stratification and perceived criminality. These factors have implications for how the deceased person is grieved. Covictims, the bereaved families and friends of deceased people, are impacted by the treatment they receive as a result of their social location as raced bodies. Police scrutiny of co-victims and the media representation of the victims as ‘known to police’ are just two of the ways in which grief is invalidated. The analysis points to the complexities of coming to terms with the death of loved ones in a liberal racial state where a group's precarious status signifies social meanings in life and death.
Article
This study explored the use of spiritual-focused coping as a way of managing stress among working-class Black women. It was hypothesized that Black women would use spiritual-focused coping as a first response to stress and that they would find it to be the most helpful in coping with stress. It was also hypothesized that there were additional factors, such as age, place of origin, household composition and number of children in the household that influenced the use of spiritual-focused coping and the level of stress among this population. A total of 119 respondents, from four different sites in New Jersey completed a four-part questionnaire that included a demographic portion, the African American Women's Stress Scale (AWSS), the Ways of Coping Scale (WOC), and an open-ended question. Results of this study highlight the importance of spiritual-focused coping as a form of coping that is used by working-class Black women to help them to manage stress.
Article
This article discusses the process of incorporating spirituality and religion into the treatment of African American clients. It addresses religious diversity within the African American community. The roles of spirituality and religion as survival and coping mechanisms for overcoming racism, adversity, and loss are emphasized. The cases presented in this article discuss religious and spiritual issues of African American clients at different life cycle stages and are illustrative of the presenting problems encountered by counseling psychologists in a variety of mental health settings including counseling centers, clinics, hospitals, community agencies, and private practices. Although extensive research on the role of religion and spirituality in the lives of African Americans is now available, this article makes an important contribution to the literature and to practicing counseling psychologists by providing detailed case examples, particularly those that illustrate the application of these issues in cross-cultural treatment.
Article
The aim of the current study was to explore the process of self-transformation as a result of coping with a major life event, and to address the role, if any, that spirituality plays within the coping and transformational process. Using grounded theory methodology, six participants were interviewed over a period of 6 months. The findings, supportive of previous research, produced a preliminary model illustrating transformation as a gradual process. The core category was identified as “openness,” in that by being open to others or to the “Transcendent,” the participants were able to let go and transform. It was theorized that openness, in this sense, enables acceptance of material deriving from a realm of self beyond the everyday ego. Indeed, such a journey of transformation crucially seems to entail expanding the conception of self beyond customary limits. Understood in this way, transformation may be conceptualized as a process of continual movement into the unconscious, where the totality of the self is awakened, resulting in a reinterpretation of life purpose. The consequences of the transformation for participants were positive in nature. The role that spirituality plays within the coping and transformation process was seen to manifest as being subtle and unfolding and/or supportive.
Article
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.