Addison Helena A, Richmond Therese S, Ghose Toorjo, Jacoby Sara F
School of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
National Clinicians Scholars Program, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2025 Aug 13. doi: 10.1007/s40615-025-02591-7.
Black men in the United States experience disproportionate rates of incarceration, contributing to adverse mental health outcomes. Yet, research on mental health-seeking behaviors of formerly incarcerated Black men (FIBM) remains limited, often focusing on formal mental health services, leaving knowledge gaps about coping strategies, support networks, and the influence of incarceration experiences on health-seeking behaviors.
The purpose was to describe how incarceration shapes FIBM's health-seeking behaviors for mental health needs.
This convergent mixed methods study collected and analyzed data from semi-structured interviews and surveys with 29 FIBM. Reflexive thematic analysis and descriptive statistics were used; integrated data analysis examined the relationship between qualitative findings and quantitative measures.
Five themes described how incarceration shaped health-seeking behaviors for FIBM: (1) "I know what I need" reflected self-assessment of mental health needs; (2) "You learn to depend on yourself" described self-reliance and coping strategies; (3) "Trying to express myself" reflected efforts to engage social support; (4) "How can you put your trust in that?" highlighted mistrust in carceral mental health services due to historical and personal experiences of harm; and (5) "It's not normal for guys like us" described how participants' navigate stigma and additional barriers in seeking community-based mental healthcare. Integrated data analysis revealed a nuanced understanding of how FIBM expressed their mental health needs compared to their scores on mental health measures.
This study shows how FIBM identify and address mental health needs across individual, social, and structural contexts, providing insights for improving mental health outcomes.
美国黑人男性的监禁率过高，这导致了不良的心理健康结果。然而，关于曾被监禁的黑人男性（FIBM）寻求心理健康行为的研究仍然有限，通常侧重于正规心理健康服务，在应对策略、支持网络以及监禁经历对寻求健康行为的影响方面存在知识空白。
目的是描述监禁如何塑造FIBM针对心理健康需求的寻求健康行为。
这项收敛性混合方法研究收集并分析了来自对29名FIBM进行的半结构化访谈和调查的数据。使用了反思性主题分析和描述性统计；综合数据分析考察了定性研究结果与定量测量之间的关系。
五个主题描述了监禁如何塑造FIBM的寻求健康行为：（1）“我知道自己需要什么”反映了对心理健康需求的自我评估；（2）“你学会依靠自己”描述了自力更生和应对策略；（3）“试图表达自己”反映了寻求社会支持的努力；（4）“你怎么能信任那个？”强调了由于历史和个人的伤害经历而对监狱心理健康服务的不信任；（5）“像我们这样的人不正常”描述了参与者在寻求基于社区的心理医疗保健时如何应对耻辱感和其他障碍。综合数据分析揭示了与他们在心理健康测量中的得分相比，FIBM如何表达他们的心理健康需求的细微差别。
本研究展示了FIBM如何在个人、社会和结构背景下识别和解决心理健康需求，为改善心理健康结果提供了见解。
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