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Dr. Burnette was drawn to health disparities research related to Indigenous Peoples (e.g. Native American, American Indian, Alaska Native, and/or Native Hawaiian in the U.S.) due to many of the distinct strengths demonstrated by these peoples as well as the high disparities related to violence, mental, and physical health. Her work began with an exploration on how a non-Indigenous person, such as herself could work as an ally to contribute toward culturally sensitive, beneficial, and ethical research with these peoples. After conducting research on “how to conduct culturally sensitive research” she began working with tribes of the Southeast to address disparities in violence, mental health, substance abuse and health. Her work now extends cross-nationally. Given there has been a lack of culturally relevant frameworks to explain disparities, she has worked in collaboration with tribes to develop the ecological “Framework of Historical Oppression, Resilience, and Transcendence”, which identifies and organizes culturally relevant risk and protective factors across community, family, and individual levels to understand how, despite experiencing centuries of historical oppression and trauma, Indigenous peoples recover from, demonstrate resilience in response to, and transcend oppression and other forms of adversity.
Since coming to Tulane in 2013, she has published over 25 peer-reviewed journal articles, and presented at over 30 national and international conferences on such topics. She is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health loan repayment program and has been involved in federally-funded research to address violence and health disparities using culturally relevant intervention approaches.
Burnette, C. E. (In Press). Family and Cultural Protective Factors as the Bedrock of Resilience for Indigenous Women Who Have Experienced Violence. Journal of Family Social Work
Haigh, S. & Burnette, C. E. (In Press). Closing the Indigenous Australian health gap: Clarifying causes, identifying solutions. Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues
Burnette, C. E. & Hefflinger, T. S. (2017). Identifying historical and community risk factors for violence against Indigenous women using a framework of historical oppression. Journal of Community Psychology (Advance Online Publication), 1-14 doi: : 10.1002/jcop.21879
Burnette, C. E., & Sanders, S. (2017). Indigenous women and professionals’ proposed solutions to prevent intimate partner violence in tribal communities. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work (advance online publication), 1-18. doi:10.1080/15313204.2016.1272029
Figley, C. R. & Burnette, C. E. (2017). Building bridges: Connecting systemic trauma and family resilience in the study and treatment of diverse traumatized families. Traumatology, 23(1). doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/trm0000089