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The school is leading a community-focused qualitative study that will engage women from Ancestral Black African Nova Scotian and Black immigrant communities. The aim is to gather insights on how they experience, interpret, and respond to mental health challenges.  

Dr. Keisha Jefferies��(BScN'13, MN'17, PhD'22)��says the goals of this, her latest research project, are to develop culturally relevant mental health materials to support Black women and guide health providers, and to help lay the foundation for a Black health data research repository.�� She adds that, in her own experiences, and those of friends and family, she sees women who feel they can’t show vulnerability or who take on the emotional weight of their families and community with little thought for their own well-being.��

“The ‘strong Black woman’ construct is very common,” says Dr. Jefferies, who is leading the study. “I’ve written about it – in relation to nursing – and it absolutely resonates in my own life.” 

Dr. Jefferies adds that a Black health data research repository is long overdue and is “necessary not just for researchers, but also for policymakers or anyone who’s interested in understanding and advancing Black health outcomes.” 

The study , and illustrates the opportunities to further advance health equity in Nova Scotia that can be made possible through donor support of Dal’s Bringing Worlds Together campaign.

Focused on community 

 Before beginning her research, Dr. Jefferies is building relationships with local partners to ensure that the study is grounded in community needs. That includes meeting with organizations to walk through the proposal, inviting feedback, and co-creating aspects of the project. 

 As she looks ahead to launching the study, Dr. Jefferies remains focused on the women at the heart of the work. She’s thinking about the women she has interviewed who felt overwhelmed, invisible, and uncertain about whether their distress counted as a mental health issue. 

 “I would love for people to feel as though there's a space where they can go to share their experiences, where they can share with others who may have similar experiences, and, importantly, where they can share without judgment,” she says. 

 Drawing on experience 

 The new project builds on Dr. Jefferies’ previous studies, including research on uterine fibroids and her PhD dissertation on the experiences of Ancestral Black Nova Scotian nurses. Both studies consistently surfaced mental health and well-being as a critical concern. In addition to her in-depth academic work, Dr. Jefferies says her personal identification with the communities with whom she studies helps her approach the research with empathy and a spirit of collaboration. 

 “You can, as the researcher, use yourself as a tool for research. To use your experiences to tease out nuance, to ask more critical or possibly more relevant questions,” she says.

“And, if you're engaged in more community-oriented work, being present, visible, and having roots in community helps you to collaborate in a meaningful way. They know you and you know them.” 

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