Racism and mental health
Theme: Well-being in social and societal contexts
Type of research (qualitative empirical, quantitative empirical, mixed-method): mixed method
Description:
Racism impacts mental health and wellbeing in multilayered ways. On an interpersonal level, being targeted by racial bias is detrimental to an individual’s wellbeing. On a systematic level, racism creates access barriers to many societal structures, reducing opportunities to flourish. On a symbolic level, racialization as majority/minority, white/not white creates hierarchies in societies (e.g., Brown, 2008; Namer et al. 2022).
Racism impacts mental health care in similar ways. Interpersonally, racial bias on the part of mental health care professionals harms quality of care. Systematically, racism makes certain mental health care offers inaccessible to racialized groups. Symbolically, it contributes to stigmatizing discourses about racialized groups (e.g., Cénat, 2020; Shim, 2021).
This study will be informed by a wide range of work, from critical race theory to feminist health research. The assignment is flexible and open for students to develop their own research questions. Possible research questions can focus on experiences of (online) racism in daily life and its impact on mental health, experiences of racism in mental health care, or racialized attitudes of (future) mental health care professionals. The assignment may involve conducting interviews, text mining (e.g., analyzing Twitter data) or conducting a quantitative survey using scales such as Perceived Online Racism Scale (Keum & Miller, 2017).
Who are we looking for?
Students with interest in racism and mental health.
What do we offer?
Guidance and facilitated group work.