Abstract
Black women experience unique stressors and mental health challenges that intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, raising critical questions such as who acts as a trustworthy therapist for Black women and what messaging is most effective for encouraging self-care and therapy. Four experiments with Black U.S. women (N = 1,961) aimed to answer these questions. Receiving messages from Black (vs. White) sources/therapists led to consistently positive outcomes (e.g., trust, positive attitudes toward mental treatment; Studies 1a–2), particularly among participants high in suspicion of White individuals’ motives. However, a matched gendered source/therapist (i.e., a White woman) produced inconsistently small effects. Although culturally targeted (vs. non-targeted) messages enhanced beliefs that the therapists conveyed allyship, they did not improve trust (Studies 1a–2). Importantly, a message emphasizing the need for policy-level changes sparked trust (Studies 2–3). This work has implications for developing effective ally and health messaging and fostering trust between therapists and Black women.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
