Dr. Kristian Dambrino is a Fulbright Global Scholar, conducting a research project on reducing mental health stigma by strengthening nursing capacity in Indonesia, India, and the United States.
She carries out the Indonesian portion of the project in East Java, collaborating with nursing faculty and students at STIKES RS Baptis Kediri and nurses at Batu Baptist Hospital. The project is conducted in partnership with Indonesian co-investigators Dr. Lucky Buranda, Selvia David Richard, and Dr. Rasmi Adelaide Indah Juwita.
Her research explores how nurses and nursing students perceive mental illness and how these perspectives shape the care they provide. Using PhotoVoice, a participatory research method, participants use photography to document their experiences and reflect on the images they capture. The study highlights local perspectives on mental illness that are often overlooked and uses the findings to strengthen nursing education and stigma-reduction training in Indonesia and India. In addition to her research, Dr. Dambrino is sharing her expertise with Indonesian academic and healthcare communities.
As the highlight of the teaching component of her award in Indonesia, Dr. Dambrino will be presenting “From Rhythm to Recovery: The Neuroscience and Global Evidence for Music in Mental Health” at the 3rd International Conference of Health, Nursing and Education, alongside esteemed faculty from Ghana, Indonesia, Thailand and the United States.
Dr. Dambrino is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner, educator, and researcher. She is the founder and chief executive officer of Dambrino Consulting & Wellness, a psychiatric practice based in Nashville, Tennessee, and co-chairs Psych Congress Elevate, a national psychiatry conference in the United States.
She also serves as adjunct faculty at Belmont University College of Nursing and previously taught at Michigan State University and Marian University. She earned a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Belmont University, a Master of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Delta State University.
