Scholars@Duke
Keisha Leanne Bentley-Edwards

Keisha Leanne Bentley-Edwards

Associate Professor in Medicine
Medicine, General Internal Medicine

Selected Publications

I am not (your) superwoman, Black girl magic, or beautiful struggle: Rethinking the resilience of Black women and girls.

Journal Article Am Psychol · November 2024 The concept and social media hashtag, #BlackGirlMagic, is used to demonstrate the ability of Black women and girls to create paths and to succeed despite intersectional racism, sexism, and classism. Conversely, the concept of Black Girl Magic and Strong Bl ... Full text Link to item Cite

Racial Discrimination, Religious Coping, and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Among African American Women and Men.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · August 19, 2024 OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional study examined whether religious coping buffered the associations between racial discrimination and several modifiable cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors-systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP), glycated hemoglobin ... Full text Link to item Cite

A case study of inclusion of rural populations in research: Implications for science and health equity.

Journal Article Clin Transl Sci · August 2024 Prior research highlights that rural populations have been historically underrepresented/excluded from clinical research. The primary objective of this study was to describe the inclusion of rural populations within our research enterprise using Clinical R ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Telemedicine services in higher education: a review of college and university websites.

Journal Article J Am Coll Health · 2024 OBJECTIVES: To identify rates of telemedicine provision during the COVID-19 pandemic and predictive institutional factors among 4-year and graduate colleges and universities. PARTICIPANTS: The study (n = 364) included the websites (.edu) of accredited publ ... Full text Link to item Cite

The PhenX Toolkit: Recommended Measurement Protocols for Social Determinants of Health Research.

Journal Article Curr Protoc · January 2024 Health disparities are driven by unequal conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship, and age, commonly termed the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). The availability of recommended measurement protocols for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Homophily and social mixing in a small community: Implications for infectious disease transmission.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2024 Community mixing patterns by sociodemographic traits can inform the risk of epidemic spread among groups, and the balance of in- and out-group mixing affects epidemic potential. Understanding mixing patterns can provide insight about potential transmission ... Full text Link to item Cite

Religious participation is associated with fewer dementia diagnoses among Black people in the United States

Journal Article American Journal of Human Biology · January 1, 2024 Introduction: Black people had the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) of any racial/ethnic group in the United States (US) as of 2020. As racial disparities in the prevalence of ADRD are being investigated, more evidence ... Full text Cite

Duke Research at Pickett: The Evolution of a Free-standing Research Site Partnering with Communities Toward Health Equity Advancement

Journal Article Journal of Clinical and Translational Science · January 1, 2024 While clinical research intends to improve health outcomes for all, access to research participation is often limited and inequitable. Geographic proximity is a recognized barrier, thus, systemic infrastructure solutions through federal programs including ... Full text Cite

Residential Structural Racism and Prevalence of Chronic Health Conditions.

Journal Article JAMA Netw Open · December 1, 2023 IMPORTANCE: Studies elucidating determinants of residential neighborhood-level health inequities are needed. OBJECTIVE: To quantify associations of structural racism indicators with neighborhood prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), diabetes, and hyp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Reported changes in romantic and sexual behavior among college and graduate students during COVID-19.

Journal Article J Am Coll Health · November 28, 2023 Objective: To understand changes in romantic and sexual behavior among college and graduate students in North Carolina during COVID-19. Participants: Participants were between 18-30 years old and enrolled in a two- or four-year college or graduate program ... Full text Link to item Cite

Scalable Strategies to Increase Efficiency and Augment Public Health Activities During Epidemic Peaks.

Journal Article J Public Health Manag Pract · November 2023 OBJECTIVE: Scalable strategies to reduce the time burden and increase contact tracing efficiency are crucial during early waves and peaks of infectious transmission. DESIGN: We enrolled a cohort of SARS-CoV-2-positive seed cases into a peer recruitment stu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Contraceptive Access and Use Among Undergraduate and Graduate Students During COVID-19: Online Survey Study.

Journal Article JMIR Form Res · March 14, 2023 BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread college campus closures in the months of March to June 2020, endangering students' access to on-campus health resources, including reproductive health services. OBJECTIVE: To assess contraceptive access a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Shades of Black: Gendered Denominational Variation in Depression Symptoms Among Black Christians.

Journal Article Psycholog Relig Spiritual · November 2022 Religion and spirituality (R/S) play a central role in shaping the contextual experiences of many Black people in the United States. Blacks are among the most religiously engaged groups in the country. Levels and types of religious engagement, however, can ... Full text Link to item Cite

How Systemic Racism and Preexisting Conditions Contributed to COVID-19 Disparities for Black Americans

Chapter · October 7, 2022 The contributors to The Pandemic Divide explain how these and other racial disparities came to the forefront in 2020. ... Link to item Cite

Depression in the African American Christian Community: Examining Denominational and Gender Differences.

Journal Article J Relig Health · August 2022 Depression among African American adults can diminish their daily functioning and quality of life. African American communities commonly uses religion and spirituality (R/S) to cope with life stressors; however, it is unclear whether R/S contribute to ment ... Full text Link to item Cite

Responding to Health Disparities in Behavioral Weight Loss Interventions and COVID-19 in Black Adults: Recommendations for Health Equity.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · June 2022 COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted Black adults with high prevalence and mortality rates. Obesity is a central factor in the severity of COVID-19 and related treatment. Behavioral weight loss interventions are an efficacious treatment for obesity, bu ... Full text Link to item Cite

The 5Ws of Racial Equity in Research: A Framework for Applying a Racial Equity Lens Throughout the Research Process.

Journal Article Health Equity · 2022 Featured Publication Ensuring equity in research is a critical step in advancing health equity. In this perspective, the authors introduce a guiding framework for advancing racial equity in research processes, environments, and among the research workforce, the 5Ws of Racial E ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Denominational and Gender Differences in Hypertension Among African American Christian Young Adults.

Journal Article J Racial Ethn Health Disparities · October 2021 Hypertension, a major cardiovascular disease risk factor, is disproportionately prevalent among African American young adults. Religion and spirituality (R/S) have been studied for their potential effect on blood pressure (BP) outcomes. Despite their dispr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Denominational Differences in Obesity Among Black Christian Adults: Why Gender and Life Stage Matter.

Journal Article J Sci Study Relig · September 2021 Featured Publication Religiosity is a potential social determinant of obesity risk among black Americans, a group that tends to be highly religious and disproportionately suffers from this disease. Although religious engagement differs within this group, researchers often clas ... Full text Link to item Cite

Got skillz? Recasting and negotiating racial tension in teacher–student relationships amidst shifting demographics

Journal Article Social Sciences · March 1, 2021 This paper reports on a curriculum designed for Black students whose school teachers and administrators sought to address concerns about students’ academic underachievement and behavioral challenges. In order to design the curriculum, we examined Black stu ... Full text Cite

The Trouble With Black Girl Magic for Black Girls

Chapter · December 11, 2020 Black Girl Magic (BGM) celebrates the resilience, acumen, and ability of Black women. Hearing the term conjures memories of Black women in our personal circles, and those at a distance who have successfully navigated racial structures that denigrate and de ... Link to item Cite

Investigating Denominational and Church Attendance Differences in Obesity and Diabetes in Black Christian Men and Women.

Journal Article J Relig Health · December 2020 Prior investigations of the relationships between religious denomination and diabetes and obesity do not consider the nuance within black faith traditions. This study used data from the National Survey of American Life (n = 4344) to identify denominational ... Full text Link to item Cite

Teaching Scared: Pre-Service Teacher Appraisals of Racial Stress, Socialization and Classroom Management Self-Efficacy.

Journal Article Soc Psychol Educ · October 2020 Featured Publication The fears of pre-service teachers, particularly Teach for America (TFA) teachers. about working in urban classroom settings are framed as racial stress. Racial stress is the threat of well-being when one is unprepared to negotiate a race-related interperso ... Full text Link to item Cite

Out of the Hood, But Not Out of the Woods: The School Engagement and Cohesion of Black Students Based on Exposure to Violence and Victimization

Journal Article Urban Review · November 1, 2019 This study examines how violence exposure and victimization (VEV) influences the school engagement and racial cohesion of Black college students. Although VEV has been investigated for its impact on the academic outcomes of Black K-12 students, these issue ... Full text Cite

Consistently inconsistent: An examination of the variability in the identification of emotional disturbance

Journal Article Psychology in the Schools · April 1, 2019 Featured Publication The federal definition of emotional disturbance (ED) has been heavily criticized as vaguely defined and poorly operationalized yet there has not been a formal analysis of the reliability of the ED criteria. This study examined the reliability of the federa ... Full text Cite

How does it feel to be a problem? The missing Kerner commission report

Journal Article RSF · September 1, 2018 Featured Publication Using an intersectional lens of race and gender, this article offers a critique of the Kerner Commission report and fills the gap of the missing analysis of white rage and of black women. A protracted history of white race riots resulted in the loss of bla ... Full text Cite

The Whole Picture: Examining Black Women Through the Life Span

Chapter · December 31, 2017 This chapter examines the experiences and coping mechanisms Black women employ throughout their lives. Using Spencer’s PVEST (1995), an ecological theoretical framework, the challenges and triumphs that Black women face during pregnancy and infancy as well ... Cite

Black Boys & Their Racial Identity: Learning how they fit into society and in your classroom

Chapter · October 25, 2017 Fear is a normal human emotion and racial competence is a skill that can be learned. We promise that reading this extraordinary guide will be a life-changing first step forward . . . for both you and the students you serve. ... Cite

Naming the Unnamed: White Culture in Relief

Chapter · 2017 Culture is dynamic, shifting and varied over time and geographic place; it is also often invisible to those whose lives are shaped by its taken for granted rules of “how we do things around here.” The notion that White cultural trends and behavior might s ... Cite

Exploring Divergent Patterns in Racial Identity Profiles Between Caribbean Black American and African American Adolescents: The Links to Perceived Discrimination and Psychological Concerns

Journal Article Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development · October 1, 2016 Using cluster analyses, this study explored the relations among racial identity, perceived discrimination, and psychological concerns among 189 Caribbean Black American and African American adolescents. Findings showed that for all participants, less matur ... Full text Cite

If i can do for my people, i can do for myself: Examining racial factors for their influence on goal efficacy for black college students

Journal Article Journal of College Student Development · March 1, 2016 Featured Publication Using a sociocultural stress and coping approach, this study focuses on the antecedents of goal efficacy, or an individual’s appraisal that they can achieve their goals. Despite being in college, less than half of the participants demonstrated goal efficac ... Full text Cite

Hope, Agency, or Disconnect: Scale Construction for Measures of Black Racial Cohesion and Dissonance

Journal Article Journal of Black Psychology · February 1, 2016 Featured Publication Social cohesion and agency in Blacks have not been sufficiently explored in a culturally relevant context. The current study (n = 242 Black college students) explores the concept of racial cohesion, or the intersection of racial identity, common fate desti ... Full text Cite

The Multidimensionality of Racial/Ethnic Socialization: Scale Construction for the Cultural and Racial Experiences of Socialization (CARES)

Journal Article Journal of Child and Family Studies · January 1, 2016 Negotiating racial politics in the United States is a rapidly transforming and dynamic matter. As a result, racial/ethnic socialization (R/ES) measurement must match this transformation to reflect the current processes utilized by Black Americans to manage ... Full text Cite

Training for colour-blindness: white racial socialisation

Journal Article Whiteness and Education · January 1, 2016 Featured Publication Racial socialisation describes the mechanisms by which youth acquire concepts of race and racism. The field addressing racial dynamics in the United States has primarily focused on the racial socialisation of youth of colour, generally regarding White raci ... Full text Cite

What Do White Counselors and Psychotherapists Need to Know About Race? White Racial Socialization in Counseling and Psychotherapy Training Programs

Journal Article Women and Therapy · October 2, 2015 Multicultural training in academic counseling and psychotherapy programs is often designed to address the needs of minority populations, and it rarely places Whiteness in the spotlight. Its structure, in fact, risks mirroring the very dynamics embedded in ... Full text Cite

Doing race in different places: Black racial cohesion on black and white college campuses

Journal Article Journal of Diversity in Higher Education · March 1, 2015 Understanding the range of factors that contribute to Black students' success requires scholars to examine resiliency from multifaceted perspectives that include aspects of social competency, social responsibility, and agency. Using a national sample of 24 ... Full text Cite

That’s Not Me I See on TV . . . : African American Youth Interpret Media Images of Black Females

Journal Article Women, Gender, and Families of Color · April 1, 2014 AbstractHow do African American youth perceive images of black women in popular media? How do they interpret the meaning of these messages, especially those that maintain persistent negative stereotypes? Foc ... Full text Cite

Raising Consciousness: Promoting Healthy Coping Among African American Boys at School

Chapter · December 9, 2012 The Handbook of Culturally Responsive School Mental Health is a must-have reference for researchers, scientist-practitioners, educational policymakers, and graduate students in child and school psychology; educational psychology; ... ... Cite

Racial and emotional factors predicting teachers' perceptions of classroom behavioral maladjustment for urban African American male youth

Journal Article Psychology in the Schools · February 1, 2009 The present study investigated the predictive in fluence of students' reactive emotional coping and racial socialization experiences on teachers' perceptions of classroom behavior adjustment problems. Participants were 148 African American male youth atten ... Full text Cite

Racial socialization: Roots, processes, and outcomes.

Chapter · November 12, 2008 The Handbook of African American Psychology provides a comprehensive guide to current developments in African American psychology. ... Link to item Cite