Effect of racial trauma on healthcare system distrust and propensity to seek mental health services
In her dissertation study, Dr. Tracy Stewart (Aleut) found that historical trauma (historical loss thoughts and associated symptoms) and experiences with racial discrimination were associated with healthcare system distrust, which in turn was associated with negative attitudes toward seeking mental health services among Alaska Native and American Indian college students in Alaska. This study is published in Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology (Stewart & Gonzalez, 2023).
Effect of racial trauma on health care distrust and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy
Dr. Stewart’s dissertation data collection in May of 2021 was completed shortly after the COVID-19 vaccine became available through Tribal health in Alaska. As such, it provided us the opportunity to also examine how racial trauma, as measured by experiences of historical loss and racial discrimination, may have influenced hesitancy to get the COVID-19 vaccine among American Indian and Alaska Native college students.
Like what we found for mental health help-seeking propensity, we found that found that greater historical trauma and experiences with discrimination were both indirectly associated with being COVID-19 vaccine hesitant through their association with greater healthcare system distrust. This study is published in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine (Gonzalez & Stewart, 2024).