About
Dr. Peggy Chi is a licensed landscape architect whose work focuses on research, knowledge mobilization, and the use of evidence to inform the design and decision-making of health care environments (i.e., capital development/redevelopments, space planning/ management). She co-instructs the course “Introduction to Theories of Organizational Behaviour and Applications to the Health Care Sector (HAD5773)” in the Fall semester. She will be introducing a new course entitled “Introduction to Research & Practice of Aging Environments (HAD7001H-S4)” in the Winter semester.
She led a cross-sectional multiphase mixed-method investigation in 83 long-term care home areas to examine the natural environments’ influence on worker outcomes (i.e., personal support workers and registered practical nurses) such as stress at work, burnout, and intention to turnover, and on organizational outcomes relating to the mental health and well-being of older adults whom the workers care for. She developed a conceptual framework that informs the design process, created a new survey for assessing natural environment design and usage among workers and older adults, and discovered significant relationships between health outcomes and environmental factors in long-term care homes. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation supported her research. Evidence derived from this study informs ongoing and upcoming redevelopments and new constructions of long-term care settings, both working and living environments.
Dr. Chi co-founded the Centre for Aging Environments Research (CAER) with Dr. Whitney Berta, a community of practice that unites experts and stakeholders to enhance health, work, and organizational outcomes through evidence-based decision-making in the physical and psychosocial aspects of health care environments for older adults. She has presented at over 50 conferences/ workshops/ guest lectures to diverse audiences, ranging from clinicians, management, and researchers to designers. Dr. Chi continues her work as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Health Policy, Management, and Evaluation at the University of Toronto by integrating methodologies from health services research, organization management, dementia care, landscape, and architecture to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries in research and practice.
Supervisors
