My Grandmother, My Mother, and Me; The Effects of Intergenerational Healthcare Trauma on a Multiethnic Family, With a Focus on Black Women

Abstract

This paper is a qualitative analysis of how healthcare trauma felt by our grandparents, parents, and selves, impacts the way we interact with the health system, and our ability to trust it with our lives. Research on health disparities focus on the existence of the disparity sometimes without robust analysis into the socially pervasive reasons health disparities persist. I begin by exploring the historical context of how health racism is embedded at the institutional level in the United States, through residential segregation and housing discrimination's impact on the wealth and education gap between white and Black Americans. How those policies lead to environmental health racism as they influence the physical and social environments people live in, which has adverse effects on physical, emotional, and mental health. These health outcomes are exacerbated by the separate spheres in healthcare for white and Black people, which is evident through health disparity statistics and harmful laws and policies within the health system. Through in-depth interviews with six Black women, I interpret theirs and their family's personal experiences in healthcare (and professional experiences where applicable), to add narratives and current perspectives to our country's public health crisis. My interviews identify three major themes: We Don't Talk About Healthcare; Systemic Gaps and Issues; and The Power of Health Literacy & Advocacy. They detail a Black woman's relationship with the health system, barriers to acquiring treatment, and the support needed to receive treatment. I end this all with "An Agenda for Action" and a call to resolve these issues for future generations.