Bio:

Dr. Burnette has more than a decade of practice experience in psychiatric and medical settings, most with older adults and their families. After three years of work with people with serious mental illness in a public psychiatric hospital, she pursued a career in medical social work, specializing in oncology, hospice and geriatric psychiatry.  Her practice experience continues to influence her research agenda, which focuses on the health and mental health needs of older adults and their families and communities. Dr. Burnette’s current international education and research activities focus on mental health care for older adults in Albania, India and Mongolia.  


Research Interests:

• Mental health services for older adults
• Grandparents as family caregivers  
• Self-care for chronic health and mental health conditions in late life
• Social work education in low- and middle income countries

Awards:

• International Scholar, Academic Fellowship Program in Mongolia; Coordinator of Social Work Scholars Mongolia and Central Asia
  Open Society Foundation (2008-2010, Mongolia; 2010–present, Albania)

• Fulbright Senior Scholar, Tata Institute of Social Science (2006-2007)

Current Grants & Projects:

• Dementia-related stigma in urban India. Patient, caregiver and health care provide perspectives. Columbia University Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy.

• Psychometric and cultural assessment of the Geriatric Depression Scale in Mongolia. With Sugarmaa Myagmarjav

Selected Publications & Presentations:

Burnette, D.  (in press). Inscribing knowledge:  On writing research in social work. In W. Green & B.L. Simon (Eds.), Columbia guide to writing in 21st century social work.  New York: NY: Columbia University Press.

Burnette, D., Soletti, A.B., Sridhar, R. & Nadkarni, V. (in press). Life stress, social supports and psychological well-being of older adults in Mumbai. Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology.   

Guilamo-Ramos, V., Soletti, A. B., Burnette, D., Sharma, S. & Goldberg, V. (in press). Parent-adolescent communication about sex in rural India: U.S.-India collaboration to prevent adolescent HIV. Qualitative Health Research.

Namdaldagva, O-E, Myagmarjav, S., & Burnette, D. (2010). Professional social work education in Mongolia:  Achievements, lessons learned and future directions.  Social Work Education: The International Journal, 29(8), 882-95.

Soletti, A. B., Guilamo-Ramos, V., Burnette, D., Sharma, S., & Bouris, A. (2009). India-U.S. collaboration to prevent adolescent HIV-infection: The feasibility of a family-based HIV-prevention intervention for rural Indian youth Journal of the International AIDS Society, 19(10), 35.

Burnette, D. (2009) Grandparent caregiving in Caribbean Latino families: Correlates of children’s departure from care. Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, 7(2), 331-43.

Burnette, D., & Morrow-Howell, N. (2006). Social work research in aging. In B. Berkman (Ed.), Handbook of social work in health and aging, (pp. 1019-27). New York: Oxford University Press.

Presentations
Burnette, D. (2011, April). Case-based and problem-based teaching and learning: The merits and challenges of contemporary Western models of professional education in developing countries. Open Society Academic Fellowship Program, Izmir, Turkey.

Burnette, D. (2011, January). Life stress, social supports and psychological well-being of older adults in Mumbai, India. Society for Social Work & Research, Tampa, FL.

Burnette, D. (2010, October). Models for Social Work development in LAMICs. Open Society Academic Fellowship Program, Fethiya, Turkey.

Burnette, D. (2010, April). Social Care and Social Inclusion: Competing or Complementary Goals for Global Social Work? Open Society Institute, Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Last updated May 31, 2011.