Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #110828

Keri Norris, MPH¹, Amy Schulz, PhD², Murlisa Lockett, MA³, and Christine Griffin³. (1) Arnold School of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, University of South Carolina, 800 Sumter Street, Columbia, SC 29208, 803-777-7017, knorris07@yahoo.com, (2) Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan, School of Public Health, 5134 SPH II, 1420 Washington Heights, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, (3) Detroit Health Department, 1151 Taylor Rm 646B, Detroit, MI 48202

We present results from an analysis designed to test the hypothesis that Sojourner Syndrome – high effort coping (Mullings and Wali, 2001) is associated with poorer health among Black women in Detroit. We use data from the second wave of the East Side Village Health Worker Partnership survey, conducted in 2001. The sample consists of Black women from Detroit's eastside (n=358). Mean age was 47, mean education level was high school diploma/GED, and mean household income was $21,105. We use a shortened version of the John Henryism Scale for Active Coping (JHSAC 12; James, et al, 1983) as a measure of Sojourner Syndrome, to assess active coping, or the tendency to work harder in the face of obstacles or oppression. We present results from regression analysis that test the hypothesis that John Henryism is an independent predictor of general self reported health status and symptoms of depression, controlling for household income, age, education, work stress, community work, and financial stress. In addition, we test for interaction effects between John Henryism and household income and financial vulnerability. Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that high effort coping is associated with symptoms of depression (negative) and with general self reported health status (positive). We do not find evidence to support an interaction between high effort coping and household income or financial vulnerability on health outcomes in this study. We discuss implications of these findings for women's health, and for interventions designed to improve the health of Black women in urban communities.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the presentation, the participant will be able to (
• describe the concept of Sojourner Syndrome and its potential relevance to the health of African American women; (
• understand the relationship between Sojourner Syndrome and John Henryism Scale used in the analysis presented; and (
• assess the need for intervention specific to the health of Black women in urban communities.

Keywords: Women's Health, Coping

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.