The PhD Program is pleased to share that PhD Candidate Ivana Alexander will defend her dissertation on Wednesday, August 26th, at 2pm. The dissertation study, “Help Me Carry the Load: An Embodied Arts-Based Participatory Qualitative Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Black Women Informal Caregivers” explores how Black women in their 20s to 40s experience caregiving for older adults, highlighting the cultural, social, and personal challenges they face and showing how creative, arts-based approaches can help better understand and support their well-being.
Ivana’s dissertation committee is chaired by Dr. Amanda Lehning and includes Dr. Corey Shadahmah, Dr. Melissa Smith, Dr. Christabel Cheung, and Dr. Amanda Peeples.
If you are interested in attending the public presentation, please contact Jen Canapp before May 25th for additional details or remote access information.
Congratulations Ivana!
Ivana Alexander Dissertation Defense
Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2026
Time: 2:00PM – 5:00PM
Program: SOWK
Title: Help Me Carry The Load: An Embodied Arts-Based Participatory Qualitative Exploration of the Lived Experiences of Black Women Informal Caregivers
Caregiving is undergoing a major shift in the United States as the number of older Americans needing care increases and becomes more diverse. Care is also becoming more complex and demanding as caregivers are navigating multiple care responsibilities in inequitable social and economic circumstances. As such, new generations of younger, diverse caregivers are finding themselves struggling to meet the needs of those who are older and chronically or terminally ill or disabled. Understanding how to provide culturally responsive, adequate, and equitable support to these caregivers requires reframing and broadening the lenses through which we view caregiving.
The informal caregiving literature is limited in examining the experiences of Black women. Further, societal conditions are evolving with regard to the caregiving landscape, which warrants research that incorporates innovative, culturally-specific frameworks and methods designed to analyze the breadth and depth of diverse caregiver experiences. Most of the studies that include Black women caregivers are designed to compare their experiences to other demographic groups. There is a paucity of studies that explore in-group differences in the caregiving experiences of Black women, as well as qualitative studies that center their voices and lived experiences.
This qualitative study explored the caregiving experiences of Black informal caregivers, between the ages of 26 – 46, who are caring for older adults over the age of 65. It utilized a multi-method approach including semi-structured focus group interviews and embodied participatory arts-based methods to explore the historical, sociopolitical, and cultural contexts embedded in the Black caregiving experience that contribute to thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors related to health, well-being and other personal outcomes. This study is framed primarily by Black feminism and intersectionality theories. It uses the Superwoman Schema (SWS) as a guiding framework to explore the lived experiences of Millennial and Gen X Black women caregivers through focus groups and arts-based participatory research (ABR), specifically embodied participatory theatre methods. Findings from this study expand the existing caregiving literature to incorporate the potential benefits of embodied and arts-based approaches to facilitate safe and reparative spaces that allow difficult or otherwise unexpressed aspects of the caregiving experience to surface and be processed.
Link To Defense Presentation For Remote Attendees:
Zoom LINK: https://umaryland.zoom.us/j/93150802553?pwd=TFAdWRVXwv4NXC1jZdhNbK0voxT5pK.1
Meeting ID: 931 5080 2553
Passcode: 589502
- Committee Chair: Amanda Lehning
- Committee Member: Corey Sndaimah
- Committee Member: Melissa Smith
- Committee Member: Christabel Cheung
- Committee Member: Amanda Peeples
Organized by School of Graduate Studies