Mandy Lau Man Yi, PhD candidate at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, for her research in the motivations of caring for elderly parents today within specific sociocultural contexts in Singapore. The study will examine the evolving expectations and practices of filial piety as well as discrepancies, if any, between expectations and reality, and the resulting coping strategies. Findings in the research will help contribute to the development of more culturally appropriate services for eldercare in Singapore.
Four researchers in Singapore awarded Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation research grant on senior citizen welfare
1 February 2021
SINGAPORE – The Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation (“MSIWF”) Research Grant Award today announces its four Singaporean recipients with a total award of close to SGD 40,000. Coinciding with the government’s efforts towards improving eldercare in Singapore, findings from the researches awarded will contribute to advancing healthcare needs of the elderly, empowering their caregivers and supporting active ageing in the community respectively.
These awards make a total of 53 grants to date, amounting to more than SGD 500,000 being awarded to Singapore-based researchers by MSIWF since its inception here in 2007.
The fourteenth year running, the research grant is administered by MSIG, a subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, Limited, which founded MSIWF as part of the company’s commitment to contribute back to society meaningfully.
For the 2020 MSIWF Research Grant Award, there were a total of nine grant applications in Singapore, of which the following four were selected:
Dr Vivien Wu Xi, Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore’s Alice Lee Centre for Nursing Studies, for her pilot trial of a newly-developed Intelligent Advisory System for safe and active living among community-dwelling elderly. The project aims to monitor and analyse the older adults’ vital signs and physical activity with the goals of providing advice on the range of safe physical activities, creating awareness of physical capability, enhancing functional status, and promoting healthy ageing.
Adj Assoc Professor Lim Si Ching, Senior Consultant from the Department of Geriatric Medicine at the Changi General Hospital, for her research on the use of simulated presence therapy (“SRT”) as an alternative non-pharmacological therapy for people with dementia or cognitive impairment in the isolation ward. SRT is based on physical attachment theories and could help in managing behavioural symptoms of elderly patients and improve patient experience during their hospital stay. In practice, SRT uses a tablet for video calls or playback of personalised video or audio recording of family members to simulate their presence for the patients.
Dr Dawn Tan, Senior Principal Physiotherapist at the Singapore General Hospital, for her research in constructing a comprehensive assessment of patients' gait freezing severity caused by Parkinson’s disease, together with a team of international collaborators. The ability to assess and identify subtle impairment early is crucial in providing the appropriate intervention for better symptom control, and a better quality of life which may inevitably be impacted too. In Singapore, Parkinson’s disease strikes three in every 1,000 individuals above the age of 50 years.
Every year, MSIWF awards a maximum grant of SGD 10,000 to each of the selected recipient who has demonstrated that his/her research project will have an impact on society and strong practical applications in the area of elderly well-being and/or traffic safety.
A total of 45 research grants (33 from Japan, four from Singapore, four from Thailand and four from Taiwan) with a value of more than JPY 39 million have been selected for the 2020 MSIWF Research Grant Award.
About Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation
The Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Welfare Foundation (“MSIWF” or the “Foundation”) was founded in 1975 by Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company in Japan. Advocating for budding and inter-disciplinary research focused on the growing ageing population and the rising concerns over traffic safety, MSIWF has received acknowledgement as a “special public interest promotion corporation” from Japan’s Prime Minister in 1995 for its grant activities and became a public interest incorporated foundation in December 2009. MSIWF has since extended its research grant award to support research initiatives in Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan.
www.ms-ins.com/welfare/english
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