Michele A. Kelley

Michele A. Kelley, ScD, MSW, MA
Associate Professor, Community Health Sciences

Current Research Interests

I am a Social Worker by training (Ohio State University) with a public health research doctorate in Maternal and Child Health epidemiology and health services research (Johns Hopkins University). For my Great Cities University Scholar program, I am documenting a Community Health Development (CHD) model in an African-American and Latino community area. CHD represents a paradigm shift from an ameliorative risk factor / health behavior approach to a transformative community development model in which the community ecosystem and built environment foster new norms and supports for healthy living, as well as enhance the livability of a particular neighborhood or ethnic enclave through community participation in health and social justice initiatives.

I recently developed a collaborative project funded by the CDC that used ethnographic methods to explore community response to the HIV/AIDS crisis, and how resources such as social and cultural capital are defined and deployed by the community to deal with this health threat. My most recent efforts involve youth participation in tobacco control as well as designing a multilevel study of multicultural (African-American, Mexican and Puerto Rican) Adolescent critical health issues, with youth from the community as collaborators in all phases of the science. This is an action research project that will enable the community to develop additional resources and expand their capacity to promote the well-being of youth as they transition to high school and onto young adulthood.

Teaching

I teach the Public Health aspects of Adolescent Health course which examines youth wellness and health from a traditional risk and protective factor approach, as well as from a positive youth development approach. I also am developing a new course, Public Health and the Family, which will examine multilevel factors that influence family health and well-being and how family characteristics, roles, stressors and supports can influence the health of individual family members. Freirian methods of critical analysis of health issues, community self-determination and cultural identity, and the relationship between wellness and social justice are key concepts in these courses, along with opportunities for students to interact with exemplary community programs in community settings.

Service

I serve as a “participant conceptualizer” on a multicultural community structure, the Greater Humboldt Park Community of Wellness coalition. My philosophy of research and teaching incorporates community service as a component so I have the opportunity to be involved with a variety of community organizations in Chicago. I am involved extensively with the Puerto Rican/Latino community here in Chicago and I am broadening my work to include partnerships with public health, research and social work organizations in Puerto Rico, the Caribbean and Brazil. I collaborate on a cohort based mentoring program “Carreras En Salud” (Careers In Health), whereby junior high and older students are mentored for careers in the health professions. I am proud to be a founding member of the Community-Based Public Health caucus of the American Public Health Association. I also serve on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Community Practice.

Selected Publications

• Kelley MA, Baldyga W, Barajas F, Rodriguez-Sanchez M. Capturing change in a community–university partnership: the ¡Sí Se Puede! project. Preventing Chronic Disease [CDC serial online] 2005 Apr [date cited]. Available from: URL: http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2005/
• Family Characteristics Associated With Duration of Breastfeeding During Early Infancy Among Primiparas, The Journal of Human Lactation 2004, 20: 196-205.
• Kelley MA .The Chicago Puerto Rican Community Responds to the HIV/AIDS Crisis; The ACOSA Update, Newsletter of the Association of Community Organizational and Social Administration: Vol. 17 No 4, 2003, pp. 13-14.
• Peacock NP, Kelley MA, Carpenter C, Davis M, Burnett G, Chavez N, Aranda A, and members of the Chicago Social Networks Project (2001). Pregnancy discovery and acceptance among low income primiparous women: a multicultural exploration. Maternal and Child Health Journal 5(2):109-118.
• Leathers SJ and Kelley, MA. Unintended Pregnancy and Depressive Symptoms Among First Time Mothers and Fathers, Am J Orthopsychiatry, 2000; 70:523-531.