In this special issue, top researchers from a diversity of disciplines provide an overview of and insights into the major social, cultural, and structural variables that play a role in Black women's poor health, and differential morbidity and mortality. The articles focus on the major threats to Black women's health such as diabetes, obesity, cancer, violence, and AIDS, and utilize a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods from medicine, psychology, sociology, and feminist analysis. Among the articles are: * An examination of the role of Black women's cultural and ethnomedical beliefs in their use of cancer screening by Laurie Hoffman-Goetz and Sherry Mills of the National Cancer Institute; * An empirical analysis of Black women's utilization of health services entailing more than 18,000 women by Lonnie Snowden and his colleagues at the University of California-Berkeley Center for Mental Health Services Research; * A comprehensive review and empirical analysis of the role of violence in Black women's health by Nancy Felipe Russo (Arizona State University), Mary Koss (University of Arizona), and Gwen Keita (APA Office on Women); * An empirical investigation of the role of social and contextual variables in HIV risk among low-income Black women by Kathleen Sikkema, Timothy Heckman, and Jeffrey Kelly of the Center for AIDS Intervention Research, Medical College of Wisconsin. Other articles include comprehensive and critical analyses and reviews of diabetes, breast cancer risk perceptions, and obesity among Black women, as well as analyses of Black women's exclusion from research in medicine, women's health, health psychology, and behavioral medicine. The first issue of any psychology journal to be devoted to the health of Black women, this special issue is a step in the direction of redressing the long-overdue neglect of Black women's health. It provides a cogent overview of the state of Black women's health, numerous empirical investigations, and clear suggestions for future research.

"This book explores the meaning and practice of health in the lives of southern African American women and their adolescent daughters"--

Creates a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness, by merging theory and practice with both personal narratives and public policy. This book offers a unique, interdisciplinary, and thoughtful look at the challenges and potency of Black women’s struggle for inner peace and mental stability. It brings together contributors from psychology, sociology, law, and medicine, as well as the humanities, to discuss issues ranging from stress, sexual assault, healing, self-care, and contemplative practice to health-policy considerations and parenting. Merging theory and practice with personal narratives and public policy, the book develops a new framework for approaching Black women’s wellness in order to provide tangible solutions. The collection reflects feminist praxis and defines womanist peace in terms that reject both “superwoman” stereotypes and “victim” caricatures. Also included for health professionals are concrete recommendations for understanding and treating Black women. “ this book speaks not only to Black women but also educates a broader audience of policymakers and therapists about the complex and multilayered realities that we must navigate and the protests we must mount on our journey to find inner peace and optimal health.” — from the Foreword by Linda Goler Blount

Promoting Black Women's Mental Health celebrates the strengths and complexities of Black women in American life. Many misunderstand and mis-characterize Black women and underappreciate their important contributions to families, communities, and the nation. In this book, a team of Black women mental health practitioners and scholars discuss a range of conditions that impact Black women's self-concepts and mental health. Drawing on a study of Black women across the United States, authors explore the social determinants of Black women's mental health and wellness and Black women's girlhood experiences. The book also explores Black women's stereotypes, their traumas, how they shift in relationships, and images that affect their racial and gender identity development. The book draws on scholarly and popular sources to present Black women's strength and challenges. Authors include commentary, case examples, reflection questions, and resources to improve practitioners' capacities to help Black women clients to recover, heal, and thrive.

This interdisciplinary project provides an informative, accessible, and comprehensive introduction to women's health. Emphasizing the perspectives of diverse groups of women, it addresses various biological, economic, social, environmental, and political factors that influence women's health and well-being. Women are more likely than men to experience mood disorders, certain types of cancer, Alzheimer's disease, stroke, arthritis, lupus, and celiac disease. In addition, women face significantly more barriers to health care than men due to a variety of social, economic, political, and environmental factors, including inequality, poverty, legislation, and pollution. Despite this, the field of women's and girls' health remains both understudied and underfunded. Women's Health: Understanding Issues and Influences explores important topics in the field of women's health in the early 21st century, offering readers a comprehensive and informative yet accessible introduction to women's health in the United States. While some topics are unique to women's health, others illustrate how women's health and women's experiences within the U.S. health care system are different from men's, as well as how certain health issues impact women differently than men. Entries have been crafted by a diverse team of contributors with wide-ranging expertise, and each entry features a collection of further readings and cross references to other relevant entries.

Winner of the 2021 Frances Richardson Keller-Sierra Prize from the Western Association of Women Historians (WAWH)​ Revolutionizing Women’s Healthcare is the story of a feminist experiment: the self-help movement. This movement arose out of women’s frustration, anger, and fear for their health. Tired of visiting doctors who saw them as silly little girls, suffering shame when they asked for birth control, seeking abortions in back alleys, and holding little control over their own reproductive lives, women took action. Feminists created “self-help groups” where they examined each other’s bodies and read medical literature. They founded and ran clinics, wrote books, made movies, undertook nationwide tours, and raided and picketed offending medical institutions. Some performed their own abortions. Others swore off pharmaceuticals during menopause. Lesbian women found “at home” ways to get pregnant. Black women used self-help to talk about how systemic racism affected their health. Hannah Dudley-Shotwell engagingly chronicles these stories and more to showcase the creative ways women came together to do for themselves what the mainstream healthcare system refused to do.

This field of Black girls’ and women’s health (BGWH) science is both transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary. As such, the contributors to this edited collection offer a unique lens to BGWH science, expanding our collective scientific worldviews. The contributing authors draw upon their ontological and epistemological knowledge to formulate pathways and inform methodologies for doing research and praxis to address BGWH. Each contributor draws upon these knowledges and offers the reader a way to better understand how their framing and writing can create change in the health of Black girls and women.

2022 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title Black Women and Public Health creates an urgently needed interdisciplinary dialogue about issues of race, gender, and health. An enduring history of racism, sexism, and dehumanization of Black women's bodies has largely rendered the health needs of the Black community inaudible and invisible. Grounded in the lived experiences and expertise of Black women, this collection bridges gaps between researchers, practitioners, educators, and advocates. Black women's public health work is a regenerative practice—one that looks backward, inward, and forward to improve the quality of life for Black communities in the United States and beyond. The three dozen authors in this volume offer analysis, critique, and recommendations for overcoming longstanding and contemporary challenges to equity in public health practices.

Covering all aspects of women's health including historical, epidemiological, economical, clinical, legal, ethical, special population, cultural and psychosocial issues.

Even though slightly over half of the U.S. population is female, medical research historically has neglected the health needs of women. However, over the past two decades, there have been major changes in government support of women's health research-in policies, regulations, and the organization of research efforts. To assess the impact of these changes, Congress directed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ask the IOM to examine what has been learned from that research and how well it has been put into practice as well as communicated to both providers and women. Women's Health Research finds that women's health research has contributed to significant progress over the past 20 years in lessening the burden of disease and reducing deaths from some conditions, while other conditions have seen only moderate change or even little or no change. Gaps remain, both in research areas and in the application of results to benefit women in general and across multiple population groups. Given the many and significant roles women play in our society, maintaining support for women's health research and enhancing its impact are not only in the interest of women, they are in the interest of us all.