Presenter(s):

Joy Wei-Tung Chiang, Chin-Huang Chen, Amy Huey-Ling Shee, University College London, China

Abstract

This paper introduces a novel integrative approach that bridges conceptual modelling and qualitative synthesis by applying the XYZ analytical framework within South et al.’s (2024) seven-stage synthesis methodology for practice-based case studies. Using the Xingang Model, a community-driven social prescribing initiative developed over three decades in rural Taiwan, as a focal case, the study adapts the XYZ framework to structure synthesis across three axes: historical trajectory (X-axis), intervention mechanisms (Y-axis), and personal and societal impacts (Z-axis).

This hybrid design serves two main purposes: first, it ensures conceptual clarity and thematic coherence across diverse experiential data sources, including practitioner narratives, community reflections, and implementation documents; second, it reveals culturally embedded care practices and grassroots innovations (bottom-up) that are often overlooked in Western-centric health intervention models.

The resulting synthesis identifies three higher-order themes:
1. Civic Infrastructure as Care – the role of social and cultural spaces as informal care ecosystems;
2. Functional Agency and Belonging – empowerment narratives among older adults, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic;
3. Systemic Frictions and Opportunities – the creative tensions and adaptations arising from working beyond formal medical and welfare systems.

This approach not only advances methodological practice by demonstrating how structured conceptual frameworks can integrate with community-led knowledge but also offers political and practical implications. It contributes to the decolonization of ageing research by highlighting how non-Western, practice-based models, such as the Xingang Model, can inform global debates on healthy ageing, care, and community wellbeing. Ultimately, this synthesis provides an alternative vision of social prescribing rooted in cultural wellbeing, rights-based participation, and local agency.

Keywords:
social prescribing, healthy ageing, community wellbeing

Bio(s):

With expertise in interdisciplinary research, social prescribing, museum studies, and aging studies, Joy Chiang works at the intersection of social prescribing, cultural engagement, and long-term care for older adults. She is a research assistant at CIRAS at National Chung Cheng University and a research fellow at the National Policy Foundation and the Silver Light Alliance, where she contributes to the Housing Certification Project on age-friendly architecture. Joy has evaluated cultural initiatives for social well-being, including impact analyses of music on prescription for the National Symphony Orchestra and museum-based health interventions in Taiwan, the UK, and Singapore. She is also an international member of the National Academy for Social Prescribing.