Melissa Desroches '06, PhD she/her
Assistant Professor
College of Nursing & Health Sciences / Community
Contact
508-910-6519
h_`nmj^c`n;ph\nn_)`_p
Dion 318C
Education
2019 | University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | PhD, Nursing |
2018 | Suffolk University | Certificate, Disability and Health Policy |
2017 | University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | MS, Nursing Education |
2006 | University of Massachusetts Dartmouth | BS, Nursing |
Teaching
- Health promotion theory and research
- Community Health Nursing
- Concepts of the Professional Nursing Role
- Concepts of Lifespan and Development
Teaching
Programs
Programs
Research
Research activities
- "Establishing Best Practices in Telehealth for People with Developmental Disabilities", funded by the WITH Foundation
- Medical Surgical Nursing Care of Adults with Intellectual Disabilities (MSNCAID study), in partnership with Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute and the Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses
- Impact of COVID-19 on the health and well-being of people with developmental disabilities through the lens of the developmental disability nurse
- International collaboration to articulate the contribution of the developmental disability nurse
- Intervention development to promote the resilience of the direct support professional workforce for people with developmental disabilities
Research
Research awards
- $ 35,000 awarded by WITH Foundation for Establishing Best Practices in Telehealth Care for Adults with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities
Research
Research interests
- Articulating and strengthening the voice of intellectual/developmental disability nursing
- Improving health equity of people with developmental disabilities, with special attention to the impact of healthcare provider bias and quality of care
- Supporting the resilience of people with developmental disabilities and their formal and informal caregivers
Select publications
See curriculum vitae for more publications
- Desroches, M. L., Fisher, K., Ailey, S., & Stych, J. (in press).
"We were absolutely in the dark": Manifest content analysis of developmental disability nurses' experiences during the early COVID-19 pandemic."
Global Qualitative Nursing Research - Desroches, M.L., Howie, V.A., Wilson, N. J., Lewis, P. (in press).
Nurses’ attitudes and emotions toward caring for adults with intellectual disability: an international replication study.
Journal of Nursing Scholarship - Desroches, M. L., Ailey, S.H., Fisher, K., & Stych, J. (2021).
Impact of COVID-19: Nursing challenges to meeting the care needs of people with developmental disabilities
Disability and Health Journal, 14, 10105. - Desroches, M. L. (2020).
Facebook recruitment of nurses as research participants: Methodological considerations
Applied Nursing Research, 54, 151282. - Desroches, M. L. (2019).
Nurses' attitudes, beliefs, and emotions toward caring for adults with intellectual disabilities: An integrative review
Nursing Forum, 55, 211-222.