Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how Black women veterans make meaning of layered institutional harm and how these experiences influence their development of leadership self-efficacy and social identity during transition to civilian life. Guided by the Layered Institutional Harm Framework—integrating Intersectionality Theory, Institutional Betrayal Theory, Self-Efficacy Theory, Social Identity Theory, and the Strong Black Woman Schema—the study examined how harm compounds through institutional trauma, institutional betrayal, and societal silencing.Methodology: This study employed Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) within a Black feminist epistemological framework. Eight Black women veterans representing five branches with service spanning 1963 to 2024 participated in semi-structured interviews. Data analysis followed IPA's six-stage process, generating emergent themes before identifying cross-case patterns. Pseudonyms chosen by participants ensured confidentiality.
Findings: Four superordinate themes emerged. First, The Enigma of Belonging captured women who gave deeply to institutions that did not fully accept them. Second, Strategic Identity Work as Survival described the labor of shrinking, code-switching, and performing as "non-threatening Black women" to navigate hostile environments. Third, Institutional Betrayal as Continuous Environment revealed harm operating as atmosphere rather than discrete events. Fourth, Transformation Through Resistance showed how participants converted wounds into wisdom despite institutional failure.
Conclusions: The findings support the Layered Institutional Harm Framework, demonstrating that harm is architectural—structured disadvantage reproduced across six decades despite policy changes. The independent emergence of identical language from participants who never met provides evidence of structural patterns. The study extends intersectionality theory by revealing colorism as an additional axis and reconceptualizes institutional betrayal from exception to environment.
Implications: Implications include establishing affinity groups for Black women service members, beginning transition planning two to three years before separation, creating VA Women Veteran Wellness Centers, expanding mental health services addressing institutional betrayal and racial trauma, and developing entrepreneurship tracks within transition programs.
Recommendations: Future research should examine colorism within military contexts, track self-efficacy corruption and restoration, investigate Black women veterans with other-than-honorable discharges, and test interventions through quasi-experimental designs.