Perceptions of superwoman schema and stress among African American women with pre-diabetes.
Karen M Sheffield-Abdullah, Cheryl L Woods-Giscombe
PMID 33593520WHAT IT FOUND
African American women with prediabetes described feeling obligated to appear strong, suppress emotions, and care for others.
These obligations postponed appointments and self-care, and stress came partly from taking on loved ones' burdens.
Key findings
01The most salient Superwoman Schema themes were obligation to manifest strength, obligation to suppress emotions, and obligation to help others.
02Caregiving obligations led women to postpone self-care, and some delayed or cancelled appointments and preventative health measures.
03Stress included overtly helping loved ones and covertly absorbing their concerns, which the paper links to network stress.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The audio and transcripts had inaudible sections, so parts of the discussion may be missing. Participants were recruited from a previous diabetes prevention study, so they may have had higher stress than African American women in general. Women who did not take part may have had lower stress. The study described perceptions and did not test whether any intervention changes health outcomes.
Declared interests
The focus group study was funded by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant awarded to the second author.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as evidence that a stress-management intervention improves diabetes outcomes. This study asked women to describe their experiences; it did not test treatment.