text: Elder care needs researchCARE Lab is researching the at-home care services that the elderly are receiving in the Chicagoland area. Conducted with principal researcher and community psychologist, Dr. Ansuk Jeong, our aim is to collaborate with elders and their caretakers to inform and create action for the improvement of at-home care services in Chicago.
  CARE Lab is primarily focused on the correlation between socio-economic status and quality of care services. CARE Lab is affiliated with the DePaul University Community Psychology Department. |
  Needs Assessment of Korean American Elderly in Chicagoland: Focused on Social Isolation and Caregiving Post COVID-19 Pandemic
  Our research aims to understand the unique challenges experienced by Korean American families in Chicagoland. Particularly, the elders who immigrated to the U.S. during the 70s and 80s, known to have a more profound impact from the COVID-19 pandemic due to racism, ageism, language barriers, disconnection from the community, and even intergenerational conflict within the households. The challenges of Korean American families will highlight the needs of underserved minority groups with limited resources. The results of in-depth interviews will provide insights for designing a culturally competent intervention program.
  how our research helps elders
  - Our research on the Social Care Needs of elders will aim to serve as a model of a culturally aware intervention program, that will simultaneously serve the elders in the Chicagoland area and develop research around this topic of interest. The elderly have been disproportionately marginalized during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly racial minorities and immigrants.
  - An isolated immigrant population has shown a decline in emotional and cognitive health in the wake of the global pandemic due to the lack of social support that accommodates their mother tongue and other cultural needs they may have.
  - During the interviews, we hope to connect participants to their community to strengthen those social support systems and to collect unidentifiable and confidential data concerning the social care needs of the elderly in historically underserved populations.
  - We hope this can serve as a model to be adapted to other populations to accommodate to local and cultural needs.
  LocationCARE Lab is located in the DePaul Lincoln Park Campus in Chicago, IL.