Term of Award

Fall 2026

Degree Name

Doctor of Psychology in Clinical Psychology (Psy.D.)

Document Type and Release Option

Dissertation (open access)

Copyright Statement / License for Reuse

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Department

Department of Psychology

Committee Chair

Amy Hackney

Committee Member 1

Jeff Klibert

Committee Member 2

Ryan Coulliou

Abstract

Black women and girls are disproportionately impacted by police violence, as some are victims of brutality but also as viewers of police violence videos and advocates for police reform (Williams, 2021). Yet, most media coverage centers on police brutality against Black men, rendering the suffering of Black women largely invisible. Studies indicate heightened rates of distress experienced by Black women as a result of race-based stressors, compounded by their limited access to adaptive coping mechanisms (Beauliere, 2022; Hawkins, 2022). This study investigated the psychological effects of vicarious police brutality exposure on Black women. In addition, this study evaluated the effectiveness of three interventions: a racially specific mindfulness meditation, a relaxation practice (progressive muscle relaxation), and an active control condition involving a popular podcast in reducing Black women’s state anxiety, anger, and depression levels. A secondary objective was to explore which intervention produced increased levels of state mindfulness and resilience levels to buffer the effects of a vicarious race-based stressor. Sixty-four collegiate Black women viewed a video depicting police brutality. They completed repeated measures assessing state anxiety, anger, depression, mindfulness, and resilience at three time points: Time 1 (baseline), Time 2 (post-stress induction), and Time 3 (post-intervention). Results showed that exposure to the police brutality video significantly increased participants’ state anxiety, depression, and anger across all groups. Following the intervention, their distress levels decreased significantly, with anxiety dropping below baseline levels while anger and depression returned to baseline across all groups. Both the race-based mindfulness meditation and relaxation groups showed significant increases in state mindfulness. All intervention groups showed increased state resilience over time. However, no significant differences were observed between intervention types in reducing distress symptoms. Findings from this study provide insight into culturally tailored coping strategies to mitigate the harmful effects of race-based traumatic stressors experienced by Black women.

OCLC Number

1528901780

Research Data and Supplementary Material

No

Download

Share

COinS