Dr. Xiang's research is dedicated to enhancing the health and well-being of older adults, aiming for a state of complete physical, mental and social wellness. Her work spans two primary areas: fundamental social science research and applied intervention research.
In her fundamental research, Xiang investigates the interplay between physical functioning, disability, mental health and cognition. She has worked on over a dozen national surveys, including the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS). Her numerous publications frequently feature advanced statistical techniques such as different types of survival analysis, SEM, GLMMs and quasi-experimental methods.
In applied intervention research, Xiang focuses on developing and implementing digital mental health interventions for home- and community-based settings. A notable project in this area is Empower@Home, an innovative internet-delivered psychotherapy program specifically designed for older adults with depression. Xiang is currently the principal investigator of an NIMH-funded R01 project testing the real-world implementation effectiveness of Empower@Home for low-income older adults.
Additionally, Xiang is expanding her research to include the application of artificial intelligence. A recent example of this work is her study on ageism during the COVID-19 pandemic, published in the Journals of Gerontology. The study employs topic modeling and classification techniques to analyze tweets.
Xiang is available to mentor PhD students.
Aging and mental health, late-life depression, chronic disease, comorbidity, digital mental health intervention, implementation research and applied artificial intelligence.
Phone | Room | Address | |
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(734) 763-6581 | [email protected] | 3735 SSWB | University of Michigan School of Social Work 1080 S. University Ave. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 |
Year | Degree | School | |
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2015 | PhD | Social Work | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
2015 | MSW | Macro | University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign |
2011 | MPhil | Social Welfare | Chinese University of Hong Kong, CHINA |
2009 | BA | Social Work and Sociology | Peking University, Beijing, CHINA |
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106