When Dr. Keisha Jefferies describes the goal of her latest research project, she starts with the women who inspired the work. Women who feel they can't show vulnerability. Women who often take on the emotional weight of their families and communities with little thought for their own wellbeing.
"I see it in many areas, even my own experiences, or those of friends and family," she says. "The strong Black woman' construct is very common. I've written about it in relation to nursing and it absolutely resonates in my own life."
With new funding from the Province of Nova Scotia announced on June 5, the researcher from Dal's School of Nursing is leading a community-focused qualitative study examining the mental health perceptions and experiences of Black women across the province.
Supported for two years by Research Nova Scotia's New Investigator in Addictions and Mental Health program, the project will engage women from Ancestral Black African Nova Scotian and Black immigrant communities to gather insight into how Black women experience, interpret, and respond to mental health challenges.
In addition to developing culturally relevant mental health materials to support Black women and guide health providers, the study will also help lay the foundation for a Black health data research repository. Dr. Jefferies says such a resource is long overdue and is "necessary not just for researchers, but also for policymakers or anyone who's interested in understanding and advancing Black health outcomes."
Drawing on experience
The new project builds on Dr. Jefferies's previous studies, including research on uterine fibroids and her PhD dissertation focused on the experiences of Ancestral Black Nova Scotian nurses. Both projects consistently surfaced mental health and wellbeing as a critical concern. In addition to her academic work, Dr. Jefferies says her personal identification with the communities with whom she studies helps her approach the research with empathy and a spirit of collaboration.
If you're engaged in more community-oriented work, being present, visible, and having roots in community helps you to collaborate in a meaningful way
"You can, as the researcher, use yourself as a tool for research. To use your experiences to tease out nuance, to ask more critical or possibly more relevant questions," she says. "And, if you're engaged in more community-oriented work, being present, visible, and having roots in community helps you to collaborate in a meaningful way. They know you and you know them."
Advancing health equity in Nova Scotia
Dr. Jefferies's project is part of a broader provincial government effort to build universal access to mental health and addictions care - an objective embedded in the province's Action for Health plan. Dalhousie has also received provincial funding for its Centre for Psychological Health which offers free care to low-income Nova Scotians while training clinical psychology PhD students to help meet growing demand in the province.
"This is one more way we're building universal access to mental healthcare in our province - listening closely to communities to understand diverse addiction and mental health experiences is essential to creating supports and services that meet the needs of Nova Scotians," said Brian Comer, Minister of Addictions and Mental Health.
Carrying that effort forward, Dr. Jefferies emphasizes that the impact of her work is intended to reach across Nova Scotia, saying, "So often, the focus is only on the Halifax Regional Municipality. However, Black women live throughout Nova Scotia. They all deserve timely access to care and culturally appropriate supports. We're being very intentional about reaching rural areas as part of this work."
Focused on community
To ensure the project is grounded in community needs, Dr. Jefferies is taking time to build relationships with local partners before the research officially begins. That includes meeting with organizations to walk through the proposal, inviting feedback, and co-creating aspects of the project.
As she looks ahead to launching the project, Dr. Jefferies remains focused on the women at the heart of the work. She's thinking about the women she's interviewed before who felt overwhelmed, invisible, and uncertain about whether their distress counted as a mental health issue.
"I would love for people to feel as though there's a space where they can go to share their experiences, where they can share with others who may have similar experiences, and importantly where they can share without judgment," she says.
