Date of Award

January 2022

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Public Health (MPH)

Department

School of Public Health

First Advisor

Joan K. Monin

Abstract

Background: Mindfulness practices are under-studied in Black communities despite theireffectiveness in improving mental health. When specifically examining Black male caregivers of people living with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, not much is known about how mindfulness can affect their stress in their role as a caregiver and their identity as a Black male. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine mindfulness, self-rated stress, and depressive symptoms among Black male caregivers and non-caregivers and determine whether mindfulness can serve as a protective buffer against psychological stress in each of these groups. Methods: 18 Black male caregivers and 29 non-caregivers completed self-reported questionnaires that measured stress, depression, and mindfulness. First, we examined differences in stress and mindfulness then depression and mindfulness between the caregivers and the non-caregivers using t-tests. We then examined correlations between the different measures separately in the caregiver and the non-caregiver subsamples. Results: There was a significant difference between the two groups for self-perceived stress, with the caregivers having a higher mean Perceived Stress Scale score than non-caregivers (p = 0.048). There were no significant differences on mindfulness (p = 0.638) and depressive symptoms (p = 0.621). As hypothesized, the results showed significant negative correlations between self-rated stress and mindfulness (caregivers p < 0.001, non- caregivers p = 0.015; d = 0.62) and between depressive symptoms and mindfulness (caregivers p < 0.001, non-caregivers p = 0.003; d = 0.38) in both groups. Conclusion: The results of this study support previous findings that mindfulness may protect Black male caregivers from the harmful effects of stress on mental health. Mindfulness has the potential to improve health outcomes in Black men and further research should be conducted to better understand the benefits and challenges of adapting mindfulness practices to specific cultural contexts.

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This is an Open Access Thesis.

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