Introduction. This study explores the ways in which racism-related stress affects the well-being and career trajectories of Black nursing professionals and certified nursing assistants and their strategies for coping with such stress. Method. Semistructured interviews were conducted to explore racism-related stress and coping strategies. Data were analyzed using content analysis. Results. Findings illuminate how Black nursing professionals and certified nursing assistants experience both subtle and explicit racism in the workplace from a variety of actors, including patients, peers, and supervisors. Coping strategies included consultation with personal support systems, such as friends outside of work or family members. Participants described barriers to advancement, including disparate educational and mentoring experiences, and a lack of policies or standards to address racial bias and discrimination in their work settings. Discussion. Facilitating diversity in nursing and supporting nursing professionals of color requires multipronged approaches that include collaborations between education systems and employers.
BallM. M.LeporeM. L.PerkinsM. M.HollingsworthC.SweatmanM. (2009). “They are the reason I come to work”: The meaning of resident–staff relationships in assisted living. Journal of Aging Studies, 23, 37-47.
2.
BarbeeE. L. (1993). Racism in US nursing. Medical Anthropology Quarterly, 7, 346-362.
3.
CarterR. T. (2007). Racism and psychological and emotional injury: Recognizing and assessing race-based traumatic stress. The Counseling Psychologist, 35, 13-105.
4.
CoyneI. T. (1997). Sampling in qualitative research. Purposeful and theoretical sampling; merging or clear boundaries?Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26, 623-630.
5.
EjazF. K.RentschJ. H.NoelkerL. S.Castora-BinkleyM. (2011). Racism reported by direct care workers in long-term care settings. Race and Social Problems, 3, 92-98.
6.
FiabaneE.GiorgiI.MusianD.SguazzinC.ArgenteroP. (2012). Occupational stress and job satisfaction of healthcare staff in rehabilitation units. La Medicina Del Lavoro, 103, 482-492.
7.
GlymourM. M.SahaS.BigbyJ., & Society of General Internal Medicine Career Satisfaction Study Group. (2004). Physician race and ethnicity, professional satisfaction, and work-related stress: Results from the physician worklife study. Journal of the National Medical Association, 96, 1283-1289, 1294.
8.
GramstadT. O.GjestadR.HaverB. (2013). Personality traits predict job stress, depression and anxiety among junior physicians. BMC Medical Education, 13, 150.
9.
HappellB.DwyerT.Reid-SearlK.BurkeK. J.CaperchioneC. M.GaskinC. J. (2013). Nurses and stress: Recognizing causes and seeking solutions. Journal of Nursing Management, 21, 638-647.
10.
HarrellS. P. (2000). A multidimensional conceptualization of racism-related stress: Implications for the well-being of people of color. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 70, 42-57.
11.
HasanA. A.ElsayedS.TumahH. (2018). Occupational stress, coping strategies, and psychological-related outcomes of nurses working in psychiatric hospitals. Perspectives in Psychiatric Care, 54, 514-522.
12.
HillJ. J.Del FaveroM.Ropers-HuilmanB. (2005). The role of mentoring in developing African American nurse leaders. Research and Theory for Nursing Practice, 19, 341-356.
13.
HsiehH.-F.ShannonS. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 1277-1288.
14.
JenaroC.FloresN.AriasB. (2007). Burnout and coping in human service practitioners. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38, 80-87.
15.
JonesC. P. (2002). Confronting institutionalized racism. Phylon (1960-), 50(1), 7-22.
16.
KempC. L.BallM. M.PerkinsM. M.HollingsworthC.LeporeM. J. (2009). “I get along with most of them”: Direct care workers’ relationships with residents’ families in assisted living. The Gerontologist, 49, 224-235.
17.
KhamisaN.OldenburgB.PeltzerK.IlicD. (2015). Work related stress, burnout, job satisfaction and general health of nurses. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 12, 652-666.
18.
Ludwig-BeymerP (2017). Respect and racism. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 29, 121-122. doi:10:1177/1043659617747687
19.
Ludwig-BeymerP. (2018). Violence in the workplace. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 29, 497.
20.
MataD. A.RamosM. A.BansalN.KhanR.GuilleC.Di AngelantonioE.SenS. (2015). Prevalence of depression and depressive symptoms among resident physicians: A systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Journal of the American Medical Association, 314, 2373-2383.
21.
Nunez-SmithM.PilgrimN.WyniaM.DesaiM. M.BrightC.KrumholzH. M.BradleyE. H. (2009). Health care workplace discrimination and physician turnover. Journal of the National Medical Association, 101, 1274-1282.
22.
OreskovichM. R.KaupsK. L.BalchC. M.HanksJ. B.SateleD.SloanJ.. . . ShanafeltT. D. (2012). Prevalence of alcohol use disorders among American surgeons. Archives of Surgery, 147, 168-174.
23.
PostD. M.WeddingtonW. H. (2000). Stress and coping of the African-American physician. Journal of the National Medical Association, 92, 70-75.
24.
RomaniM.AshkarK. (2014). Burnout among physicians. Libyan Journal of Medicine, 9, 23556-23556. doi:10.3402/ljm.v9.23556
25.
SchofieldJ. W. (2002). Increasing generalizability of qualitative research. In HubermanM.MilesM. B. (Eds.), The qualitative researcher’s companion (pp. 171-204). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
26.
ShentonA. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research projects. Education for Information, 22, 63-75.
27.
SrivastavaP.HopwoodN. (2009). A practical iterative framework for qualitative data analysis. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 8(1), 76-84. doi:10.1177/160940690900800107
28.
TolmanD. L.Brydon-MillerM. (2001). From subjects to subjectivities : A handbook of interpretive and participatory methods. New York: New York University Press.
29.
WesleyY.DobalM. T. (2009). Nurses of African descent and career advancement. Journal of Professional Nursing, 25, 122-126.
30.
WilsonV. W.AndrewsM.LenersD. W. (2006). Mentoring as a strategy for retaining racial and ethnically diverse students in nursing programs. Journal of Multicultural Nursing and Health, 12(3), 17-23.
