Amplifying Black Women’s Voices: A Critical Scoping Review Exploring Mental Well-Being During Reentry

Black women’s mental well-being during reentry from incarceration remains critically understudied. This critical scoping review examines the extent and nature of research on Black women’s mental well-being post-incarceration, how mental well-being is conceptualized in the literature, and the methodological challenges in conducting culturally responsive research. Guided by Black Feminist/Womanist theory, Black Critical Theory, and Anti-Black Sanism, a systematic search across eight databases published between 2000 and 2022 yielded 29 studies for inclusion (18 qualitative, 9 quantitative, and 2 mixed methods). Findings reveal that research on Black women’s mental well-being during reentry remains fragmented, with limited geographic scope, narrow demographic representation, and inconsistent theoretical and methodological grounding. Many studies reduce mental well-being to pathology, emphasizing trauma, mental illness, and substance use while overlooking holistic well-being, structural determinants, and culturally grounded healing practices. Although qualitative studies captured Black women’s voices, carceral logics persist, reinforcing Western psychiatric models and deficit-based interpretations that obscure agency, joy and collective care. Measurement bias is also prevalent, with few validated mental health tools for or with Black women, and participatory research methods remain rare, marginalizing Black epistemologies and community-driven knowledge production. This review underscores the urgent need for justice-oriented research that moves beyond deficit-based frameworks to center Black voices, challenge white supremacy and gendered anti-Blackness, and advance culturally responsive, community-centered approaches to mental well-being during reentry. Reflexive, transformative methodologies that prioritizes healing, structural change, and self-determined care are essential for reimagining mental well-being beyond carceral constraints.