ORIGINAL PAPER African American Women’ s Perceptions of Mindfulness Meditation Training and Gendered Race-Related Stress Natalie N. Watson 1 & Angela R. Black 2 & Carla D. Hunter 1 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016 Abstract African American women experience stress-related outcomes due to race and gender (i.e., gendered race-related stress). Mindfulness meditation training (MMT), an interven- tion that facilitates increased self-regulation of stress, may reduce the effect of gendered race-related stress on African American women’s psychological and physical health. However, little is known about the perceived benefits and barriers African American women associate with MMT. The current study used the Health Belief Model to investigate how African American women’ s (a) severity of symptoms, (b) ex- pected benefits of MMT, and (c) perceived barriers to MMT contributed to their interest in MMT. Data from 12 African American women were analyzed with qualitative thematic analysis. Women reported a need for MMT given their gen- dered race-related stress experiences. Perceived benefits of MMT included easy accessibility, fit with existing daily activ- ities, and positive health outcomes. Perceived barriers to use of MMT were incongruence with African American culture, stigma, caretaking tensions, and extensive time commitment. Themes are discussed with respect to their implications for increasing MMT engagement among African American women. Keywords African American women . Mindfulness . Meditation . Stress Introduction Stress has been defined as the emotional and mental strain experienced when confronted by adversity (Slavich and Irwin 2014). Mindfulness meditation training (MMT) facili- tates increased regulation of stress (Brown et al. 2007) via multiple meditative practices that cultivate nonjudgmental at- tention to present-moment thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations (Bishop 2002; Kabat-Zinn 1994). MMT has re- ceived increased attention given its ability to reduce stress- related health outcomes, like headaches, disordered eating, and recurrent depression (Astin et al. 2003; Carmody et al. 2009; Grossman et al. 2004). It is also associated with in- creased positive physical and psychological outcomes, such as enhanced sleep quality, exercise frequency, and psycholog- ical well-being (Abercrombie et al. 2007; Winbush et al. 2007). These findings suggest that MMT has the potential to address the psychological, behavioral, and biological stress processes implicated in health disparities, especially among racial/ethnic minorities (Woods-Giscombé and Black 2010). A handful of studies have examined MMT’ s effectiveness among racial/ethnic minorities (Abercrombie et al. 2007; Dutton et al. 2013; Vallejo and Amaro 2009; Witkiewitz et al. 2013). Racial/ethnic minority women (e.g., African American, Native American) assigned to mindfulness-based relapse prevention for substance abuse reported decreased number of drug use days and significantly lower addiction severity at follow-up compared to women assigned to stan- dard relapse prevention treatment (Witkiewitz et al. 2013). Abercrombie et al. (2007) found that MMT significantly decreased anxiety among ethnically diverse women with abnormal Pap smears. Palta et al. (2012) found that MMT improved blood pressure outcomes beyond a so- cial support group, among low-income, urban African American older adults. However, studies that exclusively * Natalie N. Watson watson26@illinois.edu 1 Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 603 East Daniel Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA 2 Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, University of Wisconsin, 1100 Delaplaine Ct, Madison, WI 53715, USA Mindfulness DOI 10.1007/s12671-016-0539-3