Fulbright Scholar Ying-Chyi Chou, Ph.D., is visiting the Department of Psychiatry & Human Behavior (DPHB) from Taiwan to learn from, and exchange ideas with, Brown researchers studying environmental factors in dementia care.
Chou, a distinguished professor and director of the Healing Environment Administration and Research (HEAR) Center at Tunghai University, studies the roles of robot companionship and daycare activities in dementia care. Over the course of her Fulbright appointment at DPHB, which runs from January to July, Chou is studying U.S. researchers’ activities in these same areas to develop strategic planning for her own research in Taiwan.
Stakeholder Engagement
As part of her Fulbright Scholarship, Chou has joined the stakeholder engagement team of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) IMPACT Collaboratory, which works to build capacity for clinical trials of health system-embedded interventions for dementia patients and caretakers. She has been particularly impressed with the Collaboratory’s Lived Experience Panel, a group of caretakers and people living with dementia who advise on the development of dementia-related research studies.
“In Taiwan, the family caregiver is always at the table, but we never give them an official opportunity to tell us what they need, the opportunity to talk with doctors and professors to find solutions together,” Chou said. “This is a very important point. I find it’s a totally different way of thinking.”
Social Robots
Chou has also joined the lab of Bertram Malle, Ph.D., professor of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences, to observe his study of human-robot interactions. She hopes to apply similar methodologies in Taiwan, where engagement with robots and artificial intelligence is becoming more normalized due to demographic pressures.
“In Taiwan, we have a very low birth rate, so we need more manpower,” she explained. “We deliver a robot, just like a cat or dog, to accompany an elder person in a nursing home or at home. We want to collect more data and interviews to find out what kind of robots they like.”
Two-Way Exchange
Chou applied for a Fulbright appointment at Brown in part because of her prior experience living in Providence. Ten years ago, Chou brought a delegation of her students to the University of Rhode Island, a sister institution of Tunghai University, and found she especially enjoyed the city. She asked around to find out who in the area conducted similar research to hers. That’s how she connected with Gary Epstein-Lubow, M.D., an associate professor at DPHB and leader of the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory’s stakeholder engagement team, who ultimately provided a letter of support for Chou’s Fulbright Scholarship.
Upon the conclusion of her Fulbright, Chou plans to invite Epstein-Lubow and other Brown researchers to an international conference on dementia care that she and her colleagues will host at Tunghai University.
In the meantime, Brown researchers are already gaining an international perspective on dementia care from Chou’s participation in their research activities here in the U.S.
“It has been exciting to learn from Dr. Chou about her expertise in the social environment of older adults with dementia in Taiwan, including the contextual cultural challenges of home care and institutional care such as those due to workforce shortage,” Epstein-Lubow said. “It’s a tremendous pleasure to share our work at Brown, including plans for ongoing collaborations. Dr. Chou has become a welcomed active member of our stakeholder engagement team at the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory and we look forward to continuing the connection long after this semester.”
