Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations
Abstract
:1. Introduction
Mental Health and the Black Community
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Focus Groups
2.2. Observations and Interviews
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Congregants’ Mental Health Resource-Seeking
3.2. Pastors’ Feelings of Limitation
We were struck time and time again by how overwhelmed pastors felt as a result of the mental health needs of congregations. In our first focus group with Black pastors, before we had even asked about mental health, the topic generated a conversation in which pastors actively tried to solicit help from each other to know how to better deal with mental health concerns in their individual congregations. For example, one pastor told the group he was looking for someone to help provide care for children with autism in his congregation, leading another to inform him of a special needs ministry recently started at her church:I think about 80 percent of the people that come into our church are suffering from depression. They deal with a lot. And about eight years ago we did a survey of people in our church. Fifty percent of adults had experienced sexual molestation. I was astounded.
This suggests that pastors are eager for help, an idea we pick up in the conclusion when discussing the practical and policy implications of this study.It’s a mental health deal but then we also just launched—literally in the last two weeks, it was just announced that a special needs ministry would be launched at the church. So, there’s one part is for mental health issues similar to that.
As the preceding narratives suggest, not all Black pastors viewed medical and mental health care professionals with skepticism. Their perceptions were shaped—at least in part—by the representation of medical professionals in the congregation itself. Past research has highlighted similar differences across SES groups among Black Protestants, particularly in their views of the potential bias of scientists (Tinsley et al. 2018).God has blessed (church name) with a large percentage of our membership is in the medical field. So either I’m—if they want to keep things confidential I would ask the people who are in the medical field, who would you recommend that I would send this person to for help beyond my scope?
3.3. Mental Health, Race, and Religion
4. Discussion
5. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
1 | AAB09, African American Woman, Nurse |
2 | AAB01, African American Woman, Manager of Operations |
3 | LUP02. Latino Man, Real Estate Agent |
4 | LUP03, Latina Woman, Special Education Teacher |
5 | LUP10, Latina Woman, Construction Worker |
6 | AAB09. African American Woman, Nurse |
7 | LUP08, Latino Man, Unemployed |
8 | Lat23, Latino Man, Pastor |
9 | AfAm11, African American Man, Pastor |
10 | AfAm11, African American Man, Pastor |
11 | Lat23, Latino Man, Pastor |
12 | AfAm41, African American Man, Pastor |
13 | AfAm13, African American Woman, Pastor |
14 | AfAm46, African American Man, Pastor |
15 | AfAm41, African American Man, Pastor |
16 | LUP04, Latino Man, Benefits Coordinator/Co-Pastor |
17 | AAB05, African American Woman, Teacher |
18 | AAB01, African American Woman, Manager of Operations |
19 | AAB04, African American Man, Project Manager/Engineer |
20 | AAB06, African American Man, Tech Supervisor |
21 | LUP01, Latina Woman, Real Estate Agent |
22 | LUP06, Latina Woman, Human Resources Professional |
23 | LUP04, Latino Man, Benefits Coordinator/Co-Pastor |
24 | LUP Observation, 17 January 2016 |
25 | LUP Observation, 18 October 2015 |
26 | LUP07, Latina Woman, Physician |
27 | LUP05, Latina Woman, Retired |
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Bolger, D.; Prickett, P.J. Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations. Religions 2021, 12, 1062. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121062
Bolger D, Prickett PJ. Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations. Religions. 2021; 12(12):1062. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121062
Chicago/Turabian StyleBolger, Daniel, and Pamela J. Prickett. 2021. "Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations" Religions 12, no. 12: 1062. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121062
APA StyleBolger, D., & Prickett, P. J. (2021). Where Would You Go? Race, Religion, and the Limits of Pastor Mental Health Care in Black and Latino Congregations. Religions, 12(12), 1062. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12121062