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Dr Shu-Mei Wang
PolyU Scholars Hub

Dr Shu-Mei WANG

Assistant Professor

OT, PhD (NCKU), MSc (NCKU), BSc (NCKU), Visiting scholar (Tufts)

Biography

Dr Wang gained solid clinical experience by working as an occupational therapist for people with mental illness and physical dysfunction for eight years. She served as an adjunct lecturer in Department of Occupational Therapy for five years. She graduated from Institute of Allied Health Sciences in National Cheng Kung University in 2015 with a PhD on the topic of movement rehabilitation for people with schizophrenia. During her doctoral program, she was also awarded a Fulbright research grant and a scholarship of the study abroad program from Taiwan to be a visiting scholar at Department of Occupational Therapy, Tufts University, United States, where she conducted research about expressive behavior in people with Parkinson’s disease. 

Dr Wang’s research interests focus on movement rehabilitation for people with schizophrenia. She has identified particular motor control patterns of unimanual and bimanual movements in people with schizophrenia by motion analysis, and examined effects of task constraints on movement performance. The next step of her research is to explore effects of movement training programs on movement kinematics and functional outcomes for this population. The studies contribute to evidence-based occupational therapy for people with psychiatric disorders. 

Dr Wang also has interests in nonverbal communication in people with schizophrenia. She has identified valid emotional cues from expressive behavior in people with Parkinson’s disease, who have motor symptoms similar to those in people with schizophrenia. She plans to analyze emotional expression in people with schizophrenia. The research helps practitioners develop effective intervention approaches to social interaction problems in this population.

Education and Academic Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Science, National Cheng Kung University
  • Master of Science, National Cheng Kung University
  • Doctor of Science, National Cheng Kung University

Professional Qualifications

  • Occupational Therapist license

Research Interests

  • Movement rehabilitation for schizophrenia
  • Motion analysis and motor control
  • Occupational therapy for psychiatric disorders
  • Facial expression in schizophrenia
  • Nonverbal communication of emotion

Research Output

  • Wang, S. M., & Tickle-Degnen, L. Emotional cues from expressive behavior of women and men with Parkinson’s disease. (in preparation for submission)
  • Wang, S. M., Kuo, L. C., Ouyang, W. C., Hsu, H. M., & Ma, H. I. Effects of object size and distance on reaching kinematics in patients with schizophrenia. (under review)
  • Wang, S. M., Kuo, L. C., Ouyang, W. C., Hsu, H. M., Lin, K. C., & Ma, H. I. (2014). Effects of object size on unimanual and bimanual movements in patients with schizophrenia. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 68, 230-238.
  • Wang, S. M., Kuo, L. C., Ouyang, W. C., Hsu, H. M., & Ma, H. I. (2013). A fast-moving target in the Valpar assembly task improved unimanual and bimanual movements in patients with schizophrenia. Disability and Rehabilitation, 35, 1608-1613.
  • Kuo, L. C., Cooney, W. P. III, An, K. N., Tung, W. L., Lai, K. Y., Wang, S. M., & Su F. C. (2009). Effects of age and gender on the movement workspace of the trapeziometacarpal joint. Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine, 223, 133-142.

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