About

Dr. Melessa Kelley is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin in the School of Nursing. She is Native American (Keetoowah-Cherokee) and is one of only 25 Native American doctoral prepared nurses within the United States. Her overall program of research focuses on conducting culturally congruent research to improve the health and well-being among Native Americans and Indigenous populations, with particular emphasis on climate change and the environmental impact on health. Dr. Kelley’s work aims to understand and eliminate health disparities among Native Americans and Indigenous populations as a step toward achieving health equity.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Psychiatry
• Psychology
• Clinical psychology
• Gerontology
• Geography
• Environmental health

Selected publications

• Native American Early Adolescents Response to a Cultural-Based Prevention for Obesity

  dissertation1st authorCorresponding

  In recent years, an unprecedented level of interest has grown around the prospect of sending humans to Mars for the exploration and eventual settlement of that planet. With the signing of the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, this goal became the official policy of the United States and consequently, has become the long-term objective of NASA's human spaceflight activities. A review of past Mars mission planning efforts, however, reveals that while numerous analyses have studied the challenges of transporting people to the red planet, relatively little analyses have been performed in characterizing the challenges of sustaining humans upon arrival. In light of this observation, this thesis develops HabNet – an integrated Habitation, Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS), In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), and Supportability analysis framework – and applies it to three different Mars mission scenarios to analyze the impacts of different system architectures on the costs of deploying and sustaining a continuous human presence on the surface of Mars. Through these case studies, a number of new insights on the mass-optimality of Mars surface system architectures are derived. The most significant of these is the finding that ECLS architecture mass-optimality is strongly dependent on the cost of ISRU – where open-loop ECLS architectures become mass-optimal when the cost of ISRU is low, and ECLS architectures with higher levels of resource recycling become mass-optimal when the cost of ISRU is high. For the Martian surface, the relative abundance of resources equates to a low cost of ISRU, which results in an open-loop ECLS system supplemented with ISRU becoming an attractive, if not dominant surface system architecture, over a range of mission scenarios and ISRU performance levels. This result, along with the others made in this thesis, demonstrates the large potential of integrated system analyses in uncovering previously unseen trends within the Mars mission architecture tradespace. By integrating multiple traditionally disparate spaceflight disciplines into a unified analysis framework, this thesis attempts to make the first steps towards codifying the human spaceflight mission architecting process, with the ultimate goal of enabling the efficient evaluation of the architectural decisions that will shape humanity's expansion into the cosmos. (Copies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, libraries.mit.edu/docs - docs@mit.edu)

  Publisher

• A Case Study of Postpartum Stress, Coping, and Health Among Native American Mothers and Application of the Nursing as Caring Theory

  International Journal for Human Caring · 2026-02-14

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Indigenous Nurses’ Worldviews and the Contested Space of Climate Discourse

  Creative Nursing · 2025-07-31 · 2 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  In this paper, we present three Indigenous worldviews, anchored to the epistemology and ontology of each author in discussing climate impact on Indigenous people. Each worldview speaks to our unique and individual Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. We then extended the Indigenous worldviews by discussing the climate crisis and its impact on Indigenous peoples, the voices of Indigenous nurses in the climate space, and further outline how we believe that climate change impact is a colonizing force which is structurally racist. We then provide some potential ways forward. We argue that being a climate activist involves being an advocate for Indigenous justice and a disruptor of Western paradigms of economy, ownership, and capitalism.

  PublisherDOI

• Cultural Perspectives on Whole Health and Wellbeing

  2025-11-01

  book-chapter

  Abstract Culture is a social determinant of health that shapes health beliefs, health outcomes, and health behaviors. This chapter utilizes the authors’ lived and professional experiences as Indigenous nurse scientists to provide an exemplar of how culture is intrinsically tied to wellbeing. Cultural perspectives matter immensely, and healthcare providers need to go beyond cultural competence to address the nuances and complexities of whole health and wellbeing among the diverse populations we serve. Patients must be able to express their cultural identities to healthcare providers who deeply engage in self-reflection, foster trust, and use holistic approaches that consider culture to ensure equitable, patient-centered care for all.

  PublisherDOI

• Native American Youth Reflections on Participation in a School-Based Mental Health Intervention Program

  International Journal for Human Caring · 2025-12-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Formative Research and Cultural Tailoring of a Substance Abuse Prevention Program for American Indian Youth: Findings From the Intertribal Talking Circle Intervention

  UNC Libraries · 2025-07-15

  articleOpen access

  <em>Background</em>. Substance use among American Indians (AIs) is a critical health issue and accounts for many health problems such as chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, behavioral health conditions, homicide, suicide, and motor vehicle accidents. In 2013, the highest rates of substance use and dependence were seen among AIs when compared to all other population groups, although these rates vary across different tribes. Among AI adolescents, high rates of substance use have been associated with environmental and historical factors, including poverty, historical trauma, bicultural stress, and changing tribal/familial roles. Our project, the Intertribal Talking Circle intervention, involved adapting, tailoring, implementing, and evaluating an existing intervention for AI youth of three tribal communities in the United States. <em>Formative Results</em>. Community partnership committees (CPCs) identified alcohol, marijuana, and prescription medications as high priority substances. CPC concerns focused on the increasing substance use in their communities and the corresponding negative impacts on families, stating a lack of coping skills, positive role models, and hope for the future as concerns for youth. <em>Cultural Tailoring Process Results</em>. Each site formed a CPC that culturally tailored the intervention for their tribal community. This included translating Keetoowah-Cherokee language, cultural practices, and symbolism into the local tribal customs for relevance. The CPCs were essential for incorporating local context and perceived concerns around AI adolescent substance use. These results may be helpful to other tribal communities developing/implementing substance use prevention interventions for AI youth. It is critical that Indigenous cultures and local context be factored into such programs.

  PublisherDOI

• A commercial tobacco and alcohol use intervention for urban Native American youth

  Archives of Psychiatric Nursing · 2024-07-09 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Sustainability of an intervention for the prevention of substance use within Native American communities

  Archives of Psychiatric Nursing · 2024-07-04 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Intertribal Talking Circle for the prevention of alcohol and drug use among Native American youth

  Research in Nursing & Health · 2024 · 8 citations

  • Medicine
  • Psychology
  • Clinical psychology

  The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a culturally based intervention, the Intertribal Talking Circle program, compared to a standard alcohol and drug abuse education, the Be A Winner program. Community-based participatory research was used to implement a two-condition, quasi-experimental study. The sample included 540 Native American youth ages 10-12 years old from three tribal areas in the United States. Data were collected at baseline, 6 and 12-months post-intervention for both the intervention and control groups using demographic, cultural identity, alcohol use, and drug use questionnaires. Regression models evaluated participants' improvement in decreasing alcohol and drug use and increasing cultural identity. Findings revealed that alcohol and drug use decreased more significantly among youth who participated in the Intertribal Talking Circle (ITC) intervention program than youth who participated in a standard alcohol and drug abuse education Be A Winner (BAW) program. Cultural identity also increased more significantly among participants who completed the Talking Circle intervention program. Native American youth ages 10-12 years old respond positively to a culturally based intervention for the reduction of alcohol and drug use. The findings highlight the importance of cultural values and identity and their significance in preventing and reducing alcohol and drug use among Native American youth.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A Rural Native American Community Experiences Related to Emotional and Mental Health Well-Being during the COVID19 Pandemic

  2024-01-10 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  Purpose: This qualitative study was conducted as part of a larger nationwide study, the Aegis Project that investigated the impact of the COVID19 pandemic, infection and reinfection, and the potential long-term immunity to SARS-CoV-2 and will be reported in a future paper. The study is a collaborative effort among The University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, Indiana University at Bloomington School of Public Health, and a rural-based Tribe located in the Midwest. The qualitative component of the study explored the experiences that impacted the emotional and mental health well-being during the COVID19 pandemic. Methods: Data were collected using open-ended interview questions regarding participants' experiences during the pandemic. Results were analyzed using the Consensual Qualitative Research (CQR) method which includes the process of categorizing data into specific themes by means of the research team's discourse, external auditing, and agreement. Results: Four themes emerged related to emotional and mental health well-being experiences that include: 1) loss of connectedness, 2) increase in stress, 3) increase in anxiety, and 4) learning to cope. Conclusions: Understanding the lived experiences of Native Americans during the COVID19 pandemic is needed to help guide the development and testing of culturally based interventions to improve the emotional and mental health well-being of Native American communities during pandemics or other distressful incidences such as natural disasters.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• John Lowe

  The University of Texas at Austin

  15 shared

• Rose Wimbish‐Tompkins

  The University of Texas at Arlington

  5 shared

• Julie A. Baldwin

  Northern Arizona University

  2 shared

• Gary W. Lawrence

  Oklahoma Health Care Authority

  2 shared

• OiSaeng Hong

  University of California, San Francisco

  2 shared

• Tonychris Nnaka

  Dartmouth College

  2 shared

• Jada L. Brooks

  University of North Carolina Health Care

  2 shared

• Lynn Rew

  The University of Texas at Austin

  1 shared

Education

• Doctorate of Philosophy, College of Nursing

  Florida Atlantic University

  2016

• Masters in Nursing Education, College of Nursing

  Florida Atlantic University

  2009

• Bachelors of Science in Nursing, College of Nursing

  Florida Atlantic University

  2008