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Black Church Leaders’ Attitudes About Mental Health Services: Role of Racial Discrimination

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Abstract

Black church leaders are often first responders to mental health issues in the Black community, yet few researchers have examined their attitudes about seeking outside mental health services. In order to fill this gap, we surveyed 112 church leaders in a northeastern urban Baptist Black mega-church (22 associate pastors, 34 deacons, and 56 congregation care givers) using The National Survey of American Life. Findings suggest church leaders more often relied on the church community and alternative health services, leaders who attended church more often tended to report not receiving any outside mental health treatment, the closer church leaders felt to all Black people, the less satisfied they were with help received from formal mental health services, and leaders who experienced more racial discrimination tended to report worse overall mental and physical health. Clinical providers and Black churches should develop collaborative partnerships to better meet the needs of this community.

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Acknowledgments

We offer our sincere gratitude to all of the church leaders who volunteered for this study.

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Department of Couple and Family Therapy, Drexel University, 3-Parkway Building-1601 Cherry Street, Mail Stop 71042, Philadelphia, PA, 19102, USA

      Brianna Bilkins, Argie Allen & Maureen P. Davey

    2. School of Public Health, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

      Adam Davey

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    1. Brianna Bilkins
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    2. Argie Allen
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    3. Maureen P. Davey
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    Correspondence to Brianna Bilkins.

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    Brianna Bilkins and Argie Allen have contributed equally to the development of this manuscript.

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    Bilkins, B., Allen, A., Davey, M.P. et al. Black Church Leaders’ Attitudes About Mental Health Services: Role of Racial Discrimination. Contemp Fam Ther 38, 184–197 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10591-015-9363-5

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