Cultural factors and resilience in African-American suicide prevention

¶ … African-American Women Who Have Lost a Male Son to Suicide

A Re-Examination of cultural factors that mitigate risk and promote resilience in relation to African-American suicide: A review of the literature and recommendations for future research

Accoding to Utsey, Hook & Stanard (2007), there was the discussion of the history of African-American Suicides. Their reports about suicide of African-Americans brought out the confirmation of the acknowledgement of the Surgeon General in the U.S. As a grown crisis. Nonetheless, there is little research about suicide on the factor among this population and that leaves a huge gap for the mitigation of the issue. In the journal, there is a review of suicide among African-Americans, through study of the culture and overall view of African-Americans. According to the study, it is reported that 2002 recorded 1,939 suicides. Out of these cases, male suicides comprised 84%. The case was different for African-American women, who despite reports of attempted suicides, recorded lower cases of suicide. It also reported the fact that African-American women had the lowest suicidal rate compared to other ethnic and racial groups. High rates among youths aged between 15 and 24 were the most alarming with male youths committing suicide at a rate higher than female youths.

The focus of this study is on the available research reports about African-American suicide as influenced by cultural factors. It is most interested on the influence of cultural factors in lowering suicidal rates among African-Americans. This is done through the review of literature pertaining to socio cultural risks, and protective factors in relation African-American suicides. The research also discusses the protectiveness of the African-American culture with focus on the degree, which cultural factors reduce the risk of suicide among African-Americans. The research finalizes by noting the methodologies of past researched in terms of limiting aspects of methodologies used. Further, it gives recommendations for future research, and highlights the implications that research on suicide among African-Americans have on public policy and clinical practice.

African-Americans are most likely to link their beliefs about God into issues of suicide. This is contrary to European-Americans perception, and their avoidance of bringing God into the suicidal equation whenever a person commits suicide (Walker, Lester & Joe, 2009). The European-Americans view suicide from an interrelationships angle and that leaves the burden of any suicides on the government. It is typical for African-Americans to blame suicide on the plans made by God. In situations where there is deterioration of interpersonal elations, there are reports of higher suicidal cases compared to those with balanced interpersonal relationships. These situations have young males falling victim of suicide than females. In the case of African-Americans, there is the belief that any death is an ordination from God. They believe that for someone to commit suicide, God must have planned his death through suicide. This creates diversity in attitudes of young white and black Americans.

According to Walker, Alabi & Obasi (2010) in their examination of the relationship between 'reasons for living' and culture, there was a significant evidence for moderation of suicidal cases from cultural beliefs in black Americans and not in European-Americans. The presence of hopelessness washes out the desire for living for European-Americans. That was also evident in African-Americans having little affiliation to cultural beliefs. The conceptual frameworks that scholars use in evaluating African-American suicide cases are the ecological frameworks, the psychological frameworks and sociological perspectives. According to the sociological perspective, suicide results from malfunction between a person and society. This can be traced to the effects of racism and ethnic oppressions experienced by African-Americans over a long period.

The psychological framework suggests that suicide is a result of harbored anger towards oneself. Feelings of depression, anger and hopelessness experienced by African-Americans comes out in terms of violent characters and that leaves them with little time or thinking about suicide as compared to those ethnic groups, which internalize their emotional distresses. For the research o ecological affiliation to suicide, it is evidenced that suicide is a result of growing competition for scarce resources. Those loosing hope for success chances develop low self-esteem and failure thoughts making them prone to falling victim of suicide. This is a relevant theory overwhelmed by urban competitiveness for resources while they languish in poverty, unemployment, and crime and socio economic despair.

Other than those factors pointing to causal factors for suicide, there are also protective actors, which prevent African-Americans from falling victim of suicide. There have been research on the influences of Christianity and religion as protective factors from suicide (Mollock, Puri, Matlin & Barksdale, 2006). Other strengths against suicide re cohesiveness of family unites, support of social networks and close friendships. Socio-cultural risk factors that increases suicidal cases are as, racial inequality, substance abuse, trauma, illicit drugs, family dysfunctions and psychological distress. Negative attitudes to mentally ill people aggravate the possibilities of suicide (Moskos, Olson & Halbern, 2005).

Research on African-American suicide and factors of cultural protectiveness is still insufficient. The use of quantitative research methods for this kind of research only gives assumptions related to previous researches and does not explore the issues first hand. In the study of strengths buffering African-American suicides, there is need for broader conceptualization of cultural implications. The methodology used for the study through reviews of present literature is insufficient o provide any substantial conclusions. This is because available literature has focus on Christianity, pro-social behavior, social support, familial variables and religion, which may not have full affiliation to cultural perspectives (Mollock, Puri, Matlin & Barksdale, 2006). It is also limiting studying subsections is limiting.

In addition, it is inappropriate studying risk factors, attitudes and strengths of African-Americans against European-Americans because of the differences in cultural beliefs and the diversity, which exists between the groups. The world overview also has factors not substantially verified as affiliates to the African-American culture. The methodology used did not focus on those who attempt suicide, but instead focused on those who commit suicide. That presents flaws into the methodology because there are substantial reports about those who attempt, but never complete the suicidal act. Cross-sectional correlation research design used is limit research findings as they lack the advantages, which a longitudinal or autopsy research design presents to matters of emotions.

Social work research on African-Americans and suicidal behavior: A Systematic 25-Year Review

Through a systematic critical review, Joe & Niedermeier (2008) provides support for the dissemination of suicide among African-American populations. Through the research, the need for further research and better tools for data collection arises. The study evaluates the publications from social workers to determine their implications and awareness on the issue of suicide among African-Americans. It also looks at risk factors and availability of effective treatments through an evaluation of web-based studies of social abstracts, manual researches and pscINFO. By studying of manuals published by social workers, the researchers aimed at getting reasonable amounts of data for the period 1980 and 2005. From the study, the results showed that an approximate of 30,000 African-Americans commit suicide yearly.

The research also reported a significant national interest in reducing suicide cases especially among ethnic and racial groups. It also showed a relatively lower suicide reports among African-Americans as compared to European-Americans. There also exists dramatic shifts in statistics pertaining to the number of suicide cases recorded. The common perception for this is that African-American youths least engages in suicidal behaviors that can lead to suicide as compared to their while counterparts. However, current researches refute such a claim because through the study of the lifespan of African-Americans and that of European-Americans, there is comparability in the rates of suicide among African-American and European youths (Joe & Niedermeier, 2008).

Liamputtong (2010) explains the claim about cultural affiliation to suicide, when he says that there is an importance for the study of cross-cultural aspects in the postmodern world because of the marginalization and vulnerability of people. The researcher notes the importance of qualitative research focused on captivating the attention of participants and evaluating their feelings about the situation of suicide under relevant theoretical frameworks. It is, therefore, necessary to design further theoretical frameworks for researching, which researchers can use to base their studies of culture and suicide for the derivation of reliable results. From the research, only 11 articles published by social workers regarding suicide among African-Americans were fond.

In these, the factors reviewed were suicidal risk factors, research and implications of clinical social work. It was evident that suicide is a top killer in the world and there is need for training of professionals on means of developing suicide mitigation programs. The increase of suicide behavior among African-American males comes because of frustrating life effects leading to disproportionate indulgence in self-destructive behaviors. Male African-Americans are more a risk of attempted and completed suicides as compared to the females. It is exceedingly significant noting the need for the contribution of social workers to mitigate the rising cases of suicide. This is because the highest percentage of health professionals dealing with mental health is social workers. This positions them in the best place for intervening and setting up relevant programs for settling the suicide cases.

However, conventional beliefs that there is low rate for African-American involvement in suicidal activities, there exists minimal focus on learning the possible suicide patterns among African-Americans. Social workers are not aware of the risks and protectiveness among African-Americans. This gives room for misinterpretation of facts concerning self-destructive activities of African-Americans. The research further stresses the importance of social workers to the study of suicide among African-Americans. They also have the capacity for influencing national policies and strategies for the mitigation of suicidal cases. Through the research, it was evident that there exists extremely little information about the empirical knowledge of social workers practicing in this sector with regard to the works featured by the social work researchers.

With the evidently increasing need for social workers, it is necessary to study the capacities of knowledge of social workers regarding issued of suicide. This is relevant to the increase of social workers in the clinical sector within mental institutions. There is reliance on professional literature and practice knowledge, but there is dire need for unique perspectives and concepts to build scientific clinical knowledge applicable to the social practice related to African-American suicide.

The period of his research is not adequate for gathering ample information regarding suicide. The seven years studied cannot give a clear picture about the developments of suicide studies conducted by social workers. Basing the research on studying peer-reviewed journals for the access of knowledge possessed by social workers only provided resources relevant for making assumptions about the issue. The methodology left out the possibility of using a different approach for engaging social workers into contributing to the research objectives, and possibly getting relevant practical information absent in the reviewed literature.

Because of the evidence presented in the research showing growing cases of suicide among youths, clinicians deserve accurate information to help them in designing preventive measures for suicidal cases. This is only possible through an understanding of the trends and patterns of suicide. The success of such input is only possible through the involvement of social workers in research to have their input and opinions given consideration when making any conclusions and recommendations. These can help clinicians in finding ways for reducing mental disorders, hopelessness, childhood trauma, physical violence and other risk factors. The sample of the study was not adequate and even the reviewed articles contained limited in formation about suicide. It limited the study of existing variables among groups of segregated races.

Introduction

Research is very essential in all disciplines. There are different types of research methods that can be used to study an issue like suicide. The significance of research is to provide information relevant to a field for the improvement of performance or provision of information regarding its status. This way, research plays a crucial role in making advancements and developments relevant to any field as it opens new avenues of operating. However, depending on the research method used, results of a study may vary in capacity as much as any method used is always aimed to provide some form of insight to a topic of under study.

Every research has objectives it desires to meet at the end of the set period. The achievement of research objectives is guided by research questions, which a researcher uses to answer issues in a topic of study. Hypothesizes can be drawn regarding the topic with expectations of proving or refuting them at the end of a research. The methodology used for a research can face certain forms of limitations and researchers must have such possibilities catered for when creating expectations for the research.

In the articles reviewed in this study, different researchers conducted their studies on topics related to suicide among African-Americans. They used quantitative approach for gathering their data and did comprehensive analysis of their literature. There was the study of the relationship between suicide and African-Americans in the context of cultural beliefs, input of social workers, and parental influences. From the reviewed articles, it is evident that the rate of suicide among African-Americans is on the rise. There are various aspects, which put African-Americans under the pressure of committing suicide like racial effects, social imbalances and economical issues.

Effects of loosing a child to suicide

Loosing a child is a very painful experience and it affects very negatively on the lives of most parents. This is even greater when the child dies because of suicide. Experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide is the focus of my study and it is a topic that has received attention in the recent past with several scholars and researchers putting so much research efforts to understand the reported dramatic increase in adolescent suicides (CDC, 2007). A mother who as lost a male child because of suicide is a delicate one and it can lead to a series of emotional, social and physical implications requiring comprehensive treatment. Statistically, suicide ranks third as death cause among African-American males aged between 151 and 24 years (CDC, 2007). Treatment is a crucial necessity for the mothers, communities and families who lose their children to suicide. The impact of suicide on mothers of African-American mothers who lose their children to suicide is exceedingly high. Despite the fact that there has been research on the topic, there is clear need for further research in the matter to deliberate new ways of helping mothers with their experiences after their children commit suicide. Through this qualitative research, there will be use of phenomenological approach to bring out the experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide. This makes the study essential to not only the mothers but also to the family and community at large. The importance of this study is to get deep into the Experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide and come up with possible means of helping parents and caregivers into understanding the issue better.

PROPOSAL EVALUATION

Problem Statement

For the past 20 years, there has been significant change in the suicidal patterns among male African-Americans. There are reports that male Africans have higher risks of committing suicide as compared to their European-American counterparts (CDC, 2007). Due to the increasing suicide rates, among male African-American children, there has been a rise in the phenomenological increase of male suicide victims in the United States. However, there has been minimal inquiry into the matter and that brings out the need for this research. Such minimal input into the matter leaves policy formulation with limited information leaving out some crucial matters that the policies need to tackle in the formulation process. One such ignored position in the past is the plight of African-American women who lose their male children to suicide. What aggravates the situation even more is the presence of spiritual and cultural factors hindering dialogue about suicide. The input of researcher and scholars into matters affecting the lives of people is to conduct phenomenological studies of occurrences. It is further required that focus stays on a specific group for the identification of influencing factors and variables that can lead to the hearing of the voices of the affected people by a given issue (Creswell, 2007).

Research condition, African-American Phenomena or Issue

Probably, this study can help the continuation of the ongoing dialogue on the suicide cases in the community and most especially on the experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide. It will describe the roles of family, culture and religion to suicide and come up with available resources and programs available for the community utilization.

Purpose Statement

The focus of this study is to research on the real experiences of African-American mothers who have lost a male child to suicide, and explore existing spiritual and cultural factors that makes any discussion about suicide "taboo."

Research Objectives

The objectives of the research are:

To investigate the experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide

To study the role played by religion and spirituality in the lives of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide

To investigate the African-American opinions towards suicide

To investigate how suicide affects the lives of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide

To investigate the rationality of African-American mothers who have experienced the painful death of their male children to suicide within the family and community.

To study the first response of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide

To research the available resources for helping of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide in the community

To study the available support that the government gives to Experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide

Research Question

What are the experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide?

Literature Review

Theoretical Framework

This research will use phenomenological approach rooted in Husserl's approach. This is a research methodology that gives a research two approaches based on psychological basis of the 'Duquesne School" and the experiential approaches associated with Thompson (Giorgi, 1989). Phenomenological approach is appropriate for studying experiences and that is through observations, discussions, interviews and participation of correspondents. It gives room for better understanding of a subject from the perspective of the affected and provides for ample room for interpretation of the findings. This gives space for analysis of memories and accounts of experiences from individuals (Creswell, 2007).

Discussion of proposed study in relation to theory

A qualitative approach seeks detailed information from various interpretations for a better understanding of subjects for the provision of better understanding, direction and recommendations for further studies (Creswell, 2007). The researcher is an exceedingly necessary part of the research findings and recommendations and that makes his opinions and views about the subject necessary in the research findings and conclusions in the research process (Creswell, 2007). Adequate sampling of participants by a researcher gives ample results and can always make conclusions about a research.

There is the possibility of the research generating new theory. Inductive approach is reminiscent and can produce data related to the phenomena of suicide (Barnett-Page & Thomas, 2009). Through investigation of the phenomena of the experiences of African-American Women who have lost a male son to suicide opens up new avenues of focus through the findings of the study. There have been several explanations of the suicide phenomenon conducted in laboratories through quantitative approaches. Through the adoption of phenomenological qualitative approach, this research is an addition to the present data previously found through quantitative researches (Thomas, 2009).

There have been recordings of increase on suicide among African-American males and adding maternal voices just enhances the factor and need for mitigating the issue. It can help in designing of counseling programs for helping the mothers and giving social workers space for developing best means for handling their patients. It tries to determine the fact believed that women who have lost their male children to suicide are less liked because of being blamed for the death of the child. The phenomenological approach will help in determining the feelings of African-American women who have lost their male children to suicide. Other researches found that parents have the feeling that religious communities give them inadequate help when they are in need (Bernes, 2006). This research can find ways of helping the grieving mothers in a realistic way.

Cultural Implications

In other research about suicide among African-Americans Gibson, Gallaher & Jenkins (2010) stated that the silence of voices of suicide is because of various reasons. One prominent factor that makes people quite about suicide is the consequence of familial denial because of suicide. This may be in cases of attempted suicide that leads to disowning of victims leading them into even more vulnerable situations, which increase their risk of finally pulling through with suicide. The feeling of denial and shame from families is a depressing thing for mothers who have lost their male children to suicide (Thomas, 2009). It hinders the women from telling their stories and it takes a toll on them in an emotionally burdening manner throughout their lives. Through this research, there will be ample space for the sampling of women who have suffered from the loss of male children and letting them tell and share their stories. The aim for this is to have the stories out for further research to use, and for helping future women and families in means of dealing with their suicide losses. This research will probably help towards contributing to mitigation of the silence and desire to move on with lives once a suicidal case rocks their lives.

Implications for Family Therapy

Family therapy is one process that can help the family in preventing suicide (Prabhu, Molinari, Bower & Lomax, 2010). Suicide is an act of pilled up anger, despair and the desire for escaping from intolerable pain the victims associate with bonding disturbances within the family. The interpersonal loss and incapability for receiving social support from the family leaves the victims with little option. through online databases, the research evaluated articles that tackle the best means of suicide prevention. The result of this is a three approach basis for prevention of suicide in families being family adhesion, family cohesion and new family formation. Social adaptability and family cohesion is an important factor for influencing the rate of suicide among African-Americans (Compton, Thompson & Kaslow, 2005). Through a qualitative research (Grant and Greif, 2009), males raised by single African-American mothers face great risks of committing suicide. These relate to the experiences African-American mothers have when raising their male children presenting them to suicide prone situations.

Social workers input to the mitigation of suicide

On the other hand, there is also evident significance in having informed social workers on matters regarding suicide. This is because they are in direct contact with patients and can help a research process in finding out factors relevant to the mitigation of suicidal cases. Parental influences in the lives of their children also determine the attitudes of their children regarding suicide. After suicide of children, parent have a hard time readjusting and assuming normal activities like going back to work. There was also the study of cultural influences on adolescents and means of creating psychosocial preventive measures to mitigate the possibilities of being suicidal from an early onset of symptoms. Overall, there has been an evaluation of available data and methods used to collect them. There quantitative methods used have visible obstacles for making conclusive input in the research area of suicide among African-American. Therefore, there is a final research paper presented using a qualitative research method perceived as the most relevant method for studying topics related to human experiences. That helps in collecting data related to family, culture, religion, and treatment, mental and other risk or protective factors.

Parental triggers of suicide in their children

Through a quantitative research conduced by Andrews (2006), there exists a dissatisfaction among adolescents regarding their parents and that triggers suicidal thoughts and attempts. Conflict between parents and their children is a common phenomenon and these can be associated with many aspects such as a child feeling unwanted as compared to her siblings. In a longitudinal study of more than 1600 adolescents, studied in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health and a considerable percentage confirmed the presence of adolescent parent conflicts. The dissatisfied adolescents were the middle aged children comprising 23% of suicide attempts among first and lastborns. The probability of these adolescents getting medical attention was 8.5% staying at a 5% position above suicidal cases among the first and lastborns. This is concurrent to the hypothesis that there is usage of suicide among adolescents as leverage for conflicts between them and their parents (Andrew, 2006).

The suicide of a child is one that affects the life of caretakers and parents greatly. This is something that Gibson, Gallagher & Jenkins (2010) says affects the resumption of work and that can be hindered by traumatic effects of loss from suicide. The researchers focused their study on the in depth aftermath of suicidal loses of parents and how it affects their assumption of daily routines like going back to work. The quality of life after loosing a child from suicide reduces drastically and can affect a parents career is not tackled professionally. There is inadequate information about the long-term effects of loosing a child to suicide with the main areas obviously affected by the fact being, social, and emotional. The death of a loved one creates adjustment in emotional, physical and cognitive functioning and that creates a change of attitude towards work (Gibson, Gallagher & Jenkins, 2010).

In (Taylor, 2010), there is the examination of the protective and moderating effects of social support of kinship in relation to negative influences of adolescent-mother relations. In an interview with African-American parents of adolescents aged between 14 and 18 years, there is an influence of economic disadvantage to the risk of suicide for several African-American families. Adolescents facing problematic relationships tend to be resilient resulting from the social support from their families. Any problems of mother-adolescent communication can trigger repulsive behavior and later turn suicidal. Parents reported that adolescents have the tendency for internalizing their depressions and psychological challenges in a withdrawn nature.

These later shows as violent activities and behavior creating a series of conduct disorders. Mother-adolescent communication dysfunctions are risk factors as indicated by previous researches and family stress models. Such situations lead to hostility, harshness, depression, and patterns of withdrawal and inter-reaction problem. Communication breakdown arises when there are economic and social problems and the stresses and pressures caused by these factors catalyze misunderstandings. The suicide risk chances for adolescents having broken relationships with their parents tends to rise higher than that of adolescents from socially cohesive families.

In the cultural context, African-Americans have the belief that for one to die because of suicide, it is destined for them to die in that manner ad that almost normalizes suicidal deaths. This leaves the women to themselves during the loss process and it hinders them from developing through their grief.

METHODOLOGY

Researcher's Philosophy

There are broad identification of philosophical assumptions made on phenomenology in relation to postmodern involvement in the deconstruction of individual perceptions of truths about realities (Creswell, 2007). There is postmodern involvement of philosophical positions suggesting that there is construction of reality within beliefs and that observer's form an integral part of the subject (Becvar & Becvar, 2000). Ontologically, there are multiple realities embedded within personal formation of realities as reported in investigations of qualitative studies (Patton, 2002). This research will give African-American mothers a chance for describing their experiences after loosing children to suicide. It will present the availability of resources for helping the women and determine the utilized resources as well as develop and explore policy and practice approaches for helping the women.

Research Design

The research method is tied to the research objective for understanding the experiences of African-American women who have lost their children to suicide. It elucidates on the structure, meaning and essence of the experiences and develops possible mitigation processes, practices and policies (Creswell, 2007). The study employs qualitative data collection processes and data analysis.

Limitations of Methodology

Qualitative research method for is essential for data collection but is has some limitations. The process is subjective, unscientific and produces no generalization in its findings (Creswell, 2007). It uses small sample sizes and the results are not easily transferable to other populations and closely knitted cultures. However, this limitation does not limit the production of relevant, trustworthy, reliable, credible and valid findings by using careful qualitative designs (Hanson et al., 2011)

Participants and settings

The participants of the study will consist of African-American mothers who have lost a male child to suicide. There will be interviews conducted within natural settings like homes and churches for the provision of participants' identification with familiar settings (Creswell, 2007). Participants' choice of interview locations will be used to maintain confidentiality. There will be need for seeking of acceptance from gatekeepers' community agencies, churches and private clinicians for follow up with participants for a period of six months.

Sampling

Participant choice will be through random sampling to use the correspondents as representatives for all other affected African-American women whose male children have died because of suicide (Creswell, 2007). The sample will consist of 5-25 participants for interviews.

Data Collection

Data will be collected from participants through observations, interviews by use of general questions regarding how the participants have been affected by the phenomenon. The interviews will be in natural settings as approves by Creswell (2007).

Data Analysis

Data analysis will take the form of analyzing data collected from literatures on the phenomenon, interviews with participants and transcripts. The closeness created by the researcher and participants will also provide a chance of observing the unspoken words from participants and making evaluations. The researcher will have the mandate for reporting and evaluating his any biases of the research (Patton, 2002). There will be analysis of both primary and secondary data to answer the research question through qualitative data analysis (Trochim, & Donnelly, 2007).

Coding, interpretation and rewriting will also be used to identify themes within the data and creating summaries for the identification of essential passages and interpretation of data. The word processing software is a tool that the researcher will use for rewriting of text and analyzing the data through assistance of Computer Assisted Data Analysis (CAQDAS) package.

Validity of the findings

Triangulation will be used to validate the findings of the study findings for the confirmation of data sources. That gives participant's chance for accurate recitation and reviewing data.

Expected Findings

The expectation of the research is to find in depth understanding of the experiences of African-American women who have lost their children to suicide. This focuses on cultural, religious and program designs affecting African-American women affected by suicide deaths of male children.

The use of preliminary results

The preliminary results will be used in supporting the practicability as well as value of the study. The research themes, categories and codes that emerge will be used to formulate policies at the community and national levels, and remove/explore spiritual, emotional as well as physical barriers.

Ethical Concerns

There will be ethical considerations for the study for the protection of participant identities and observation of confidentiality (Belmont, 1979). This is because death is a traumatic experience and there may be participants who want to keep their identities anonymous. There will be care in choice of locations for interviews and reliance on informed consent from participants. There will be debriefing of the nature of the study to mitigate cases of reopening of old wounds in participants to keep them prepared for the research process (Glicken, 2003).

Timeline

Recruitment of Participants and Volunteers:

30 days

Scheduled Appointments:

45 days

Interviews/Data Collection:

60 days

Data Analysis/Interpretation:

30 days

Conclusions

Qualitative methods are the most relevant approach for clinically significant researches. They provide deeper understanding and expansion of existing theories and come up with grounded theories relevant to the phenomenon under study. As Gibson et al. (2010) states, there is denial in families whose children die from suicide. People tend to assume the facts and try to move on with their lives amidst the pain. Suicide is seen to be shameful and people prefer never to discus it among African-American communities. Through the phenomenon study of the experiences of African-American women who have lost their male children to suicide, there comes a platform for opening up and development from the grief. The research findings of the phenomena will take future research of the phenomena to new levels by mitigating the existing social, cultural, economic and religious stigma associated with suicide. Finally, the research will give African-American mothers a chance for describing their experiences with the loss of male children to suicide in an accommodative and non-judgmental way to promote acceptance and recovery from the implications of the loss (Anderson, 2010).