Research:

Dr. Mele’s program of research has focused on access to preventive health services for women with disabilities. Her most recent work centers on the mammogram encounter for women with full motor disability. Dr. Mele is also interested in accessible web design and has recently published an accessible website to the World Wide Web. The site promotes disability etiquette and will serve as a vehicle for data collection in her program of research. Conjoint Analysis is a research methodology that has implications for nursing. Dr. Mele recently published a methods manuscript in Nursing Research on use of this research method in health care.

Publications:

Mele, N., Archer, J., & Pusch, B.D. (2005).  Access to breast cancer screening services for women with disabilities. JOGNN, 34(3), 1-12.

Mele, N. (2008). Conjoint analysis: Market-based research model. Nursing Research, 57(3), 220-224.

Teaching:

Dr. Mele currently teaches Health Policy, a core course in the MSN program. She coordinates the Education tract in the MSN program and teaches MCH I and MCH II. She engages and challenges graduate students both online and in the classroom to analyze health systems and policy, explore innovations in nursing education, and  apply educational theory to the role of the professional nurse educator in maternal-infant settings. Dr. Mele is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, School of Pharmacy. In this role she helps guide doctoral students through their dissertation research.

Service:

Dr. Mele serves on the University’s Engaged Scholarship Committee and the Teaching Learning Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Technology Integration Committee in the Loewenberg School of Nursing and serves as the Chair of the Graduate Curriculum Committee. Dr. Mele is an active member of Beta Theta Chapter-at-Large, Sigma Theta Tau International. She serves the community through her work with the March of Dimes Public Services and Public Policy committees.

Current Research:

Breast Cancer Screening for Women with Full Motor Disability: Determinants of Access and Quality. (Principal Investigator, grant application in preparation for The American Cancer Society)

More . . .

Dr. Mele is married to Douglas, has two adult children, Lorin and Trysta, and two fabulous grandsons.  Simon, her platinum mink Tonkinese cat, rules the Mele household with a soft paw.

When Dr. Mele is not at her computer you will most likely find her with a set of knitting needles in her hands listening to an audio book on her iPod, sitting at her spinning wheel, or hanging out at the local yarn shop teaching sock knitting classes. This busy professional is passionate about the fiber arts. She and her husband are building a “new” old house in the American Craftsman tradition of the 1920s near the grandsons in East Tennessee.