Xiaoyi is an interdisciplinary aging scholar and community social worker. Her research focuses on how community assets and neighborhood environments can enhance the psychosocial well-being of older adults living with dementia, support care partners, and reduce health disparities.
During her doctoral training, she served as principal investigator on “Creating Dementia-friendly Neighborhoods to Combat Loneliness and Social Isolation,” funded by the Moritz Center for Societal Impact. Her dissertation, also funded by the Moritz Center, uses the Health and Retirement Study to examine relationships between perceived neighborhood environments and psychosocial well-being among community-dwelling older adults across different levels of cognitive function. She also serves as co-investigator on a photovoice study of neighborhood life and well-being in dementia care funded by the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health.
Drawing on her experience as a dementia caregiver and nearly a decade of community practice and research, she aims to develop culturally responsive, community-engaged interventions that support aging in place and advance health equity.
Professional Interests
Aging; dementia; caregiving; neighborhood environment; mental health; psychosocial well-being; community-based participatory research; program evaluation; cultural adaptation; and health disparities.
Projects
Creating Dementia-friendly Neighborhoods to Combat Loneliness and Social Isolation