Dr. Liu works to improve quality of life among older adults and their family caregivers. She studies what determinants affect stress of family caregivers and mental health in later life, particularly among Asian older adults.
Associate Professor Jinyu Liu’s research incorporates theories and methodologies across gerontology, social work, public health, psychology, and sociology to understand aging and health. As a gerontologist with cross-cultural research and practice experience, Dr. Liu is a faculty affiliate of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, the Columbia Population Research Center and the China Center for Social Policy.
Dr. Liu’s research focuses broadly on aging and health. In particular, she studies determinants of stress Chinese family caregivers and effects of social support on the mental health of Asian older adults. In her studies on family caregivers, Dr. Liu examines stressors that merge from family caregiving and potential ways of improving the aging circumstances of older Chinese adults and their caregivers. One of her current research projects is developing and testing a culturally-sensitive intervention, the Peer Mentoring Program (PMP), to reduce stress of dementia caregivers in Chinese American communities. Dr. Liu also investigates the effects of supportive social environment on mental health, particularly among Asian older adults who are in family-oriented cultures and societies undergoing dramatic social, economic, cultural and familial transformations. Now she is leading a research team to collect primary data from Chinese and Korean homebound older adults in New York City. Dr. Liu’s work has been funded by National Institute of Aging, the Columbia Population Research Center, the Rutgers RCMAR center, and the Columbia School of Social Work.
Before coming to Columbia in 2015, Dr. Liu was a postdoctoral fellow in the Curtis Research and Training Center at the School of Social Work, University of Michigan. She holds a BA in Social Work and Administration from China Women’s University, an MA in Sociology from Peking University, and an MSW and PhD in Social Work from the University of Iowa.
