Xuemeng Li

Thesis

Thesis supervisors

Professor Yvonne Birks

Dr Phillip Whitehead

Thesis topic

Processes, experiences and outcomes for older adults who self-fund housing adaptations.

Thesis summary

This study will explore the processes, experiences and outcomes for older adults who self-fund, or are deemed able to self-fund, housing adaptations. It will be linked with a large multicentre Randomised Controlled Trial (BATH-OUT-2) which is examining the clinical and cost-effectiveness of major housing adaptations to bathing facilities. Possible phases include: 1) a review of the literature on self-funding with applied links to the housing adaptations literature, 2) qualitative interviews with self-funding older adults and other members of their household, 3) collection of outcome measures for comparison with outcomes collected in the BATH-OUT-2 study, and 4) analysis of outcome measures from other existing cohort studies.

Research

General research interests

• Adult social care
• Social determinants of health
• Socioeconomic status and quality of ageing
• Cultural sensitivity in long-term care, with a focus on the British Chinese minority

Biography

Xuemeng has a mixed social science background in politics, economics and sociology. During her master’s degree at LSE in Global Health Policy, she developed a strong interest in adult social care and started her qualitative research internship with Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC) at LSE and NIHR SSCR on the experience of the British Chinese community relating to health and social care. Currently she is in the first year of her PhD degree on self-funding older adults for housing adaptations.