School of Arts and Humanities

Dr Cheng Yen Loo

Dr Cheng Yen Loo is a Research Fellow at the Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab within the School of Arts and Humanities.

Background

Dr Cheng Yen Loo is a research fellow and research manager at the SAGE Futures Lab at ECU and the WA Centre for Health and Ageing at UWA. In addition, Cheng Yen is also a co-convener of the TASA Families and Relationship thematic group and a member of the Low-Risk Ethics Review Panel at UWA. With a background in anthropology and health sociology, her research explores ageing and social care, public health education and evaluation, leadership, family and relationship studies with a focus on caregiver wellbeing. Cheng Yen completed her BA in Anthropology and her PhD from the School of Allied Health at the University of Western Australia.

Cheng Yen is a multi-disciplinary researcher with over 12 years of project management, applied research, and community engagement. As an academic, she has capitalised on her background in community consultation has developed strong partnerships with several human health service organisations delivering clinical and aged care support in the community and residential aged care. As an applied researcher, she takes a participatory approach to developing public health education and social care interventions to ensure its sustainability and to promote collective empowerment.

Research areas and interests

Dr Loo’s research intersects four project areas (streams):

Informal Caregiver Wellbeing
Cheng Yen is engaged in research to better support unpaid (informal) carers of older people at varying stages of the caregiving cycle. Taking a life course approach that acknowledges the need to renegotiate one’s relationship with oneself and the person they look after, this study explores the mundane and often unspoken challenges that family caregivers must navigate to provide care whilst maintaining their physical, emotional and mental wellbeing.

Care Practice and Social Policy
One of Cheng Yen’s research areas is to bridge the gap between social policy and practice by working closely with aged care providers to improve their systems of work to not only meet their legislative obligations but also maintain client satisfaction. As CI, Cheng Yen recently investigated the views and experiences of older people receiving Level 1 to Level 4 Home Care Packages which entailed developing a tailored survey for Home Care Package clients and their family caregivers. The findings from this study helped to identify areas of service improvement to improve client satisfaction.

Public Health Education and Evaluation
Cheng Yen is part of a large research team at the WA Centre for Health and Ageing that is implementing and evaluating the efficacy of falls prevention education for older patients staying at the hospital. This project aims to improve patient uptake of falls prevention education alongside usual care through the delivery of multi-media education packages that can be tailored to the specific needs of each patient by clinical hospital staff.

Leadership and Organisational Wellbeing
Cheng Yen is a co-CI on the Leadership in Non-Profit Development Project which explores the challenges and opportunities for current and emerging leaders working in non-profit organisations in Australia. This study is focused on improving leadership representation among employees working in the non-profit sector who come from diverse backgrounds and approaches to improve organisational access and opportunities for inclusive participation.

Professional associations

• Asian Studies Association of Australia
• The Australian Sociological Association
• Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG)
• TASA Ageing & Sociology, Families & Relationship, Sociology of Religion, Social Theory, Migration, Ethnicity & Multiculturalism Thematic Group
• TASA Co-Convener of the Families and Relationship Thematic Group
• UWA Low-Risk Ethics Review Panel Member

Awards and recognition

National and International Awards

• 2022 – TASA Postgraduate Conference Scholarship
• 2021 – Asian Studies (Women in Asia Conference) Best Postgraduate Presentation Award
• 2021 – Women in Asia Conference Post Graduate Conference Scholarship
• 2016 – Women in Mining – Mentee Scholarship

University and National Teaching Awards

• 2023 – ECU Research Support Funding, School of Arts and Humanities

Qualifications

• Bachelor of Arts, The University of Western Australia, 2007.

Research Projects

• Consumer Engagement Framework, Southern Cross Care (WA) Inc, Grant, 2024 ‑ 2026, $7,000.
• Leadership Development in Not-For-Profit (NPO) Organisations , Richmond Wellbeing, Grant, 2023 ‑ 2024, $10,000.
• Home Care Client and Family Caregiver Experience, Southern Cross Care (WA) Inc, Grant, 2023, $69,209.