Health communication, persuasion, media effects, information seeking, tobacco prevention, and climate change communication
Xiaoquan Zhao received his Ph.D. (2005) from the Annenberg School for Communication, the University of Pennsylvania. His research focuses on health message design and effects, evaluation of public communication campaigns, health information seeking, information disparities affecting vulnerable populations, news effects on health and risk perceptions, and the role of the self in health behavior and persuasive communication. The substantive topics of his work include tobacco control, substance use prevention, cancer, medical adherence, and climate change. Dr. Zhao’s has published numerous articles in leading journals of communication, public health, and environmental science, such as the Journal of Communication, Human Communication Research, Communication Research, Health Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Nicotine & Tobacco Research, and Public Understanding of Science. His work has received support from both public and private funding sources. In 2013-2014, he worked as a Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellow at the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. Since 2014, he has served as subject matter expert and scientific adviser to the Division of Research and Evaluation in the Office of Health Communication and Education at FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, providing wide-ranging research support for FDA’s ongoing national tobacco education campaigns. Dr. Zhao is currently a senior editor for Health Communication.
Dr. Zhao joined GMU in fall 2005. The courses he offers include health communication, persuasion, health campaigns, and research methods.
Zhao, X., Delahanty, J. C., Duke, J. C., MacMonegle, A. J., Smith, A. A., Allen, J. A., & Nonnemaker, J. (in press). Perceived message effectiveness and campaign-targeted beliefs: Evidence of reciprocal effects in youth tobacco prevention. Health Communication.
Zhao, X., Peterson, E. B., Oh, K. M., & Cai, X. (2019). Using graphic text-messaging to promote smoking cessation among first-generation Chinese and Korean male immigrants. Health Education Research, 34(3), 332-344. Doi:10.1093/her/cyz006
Zhao, X., Roditis, M. L., & Alexander, T. N. (2019). Fear and humor appeals in “The Real Cost” campaign: Evidence of potential effectiveness in message pretesting. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 56(2, Supplement 1), S31–S39.
Zhao, X., & Peterson, E. B. (2017). Effects of temporal framing on response to antismoking messages: The mediating role of perceived relevance. Journal of Health Communication, 22(1), 37–44. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2016.1250844
Zhao, X., Alexander, T. N., Hoffman, L., Jones, C., Delahanty, J., Walker, M., … Talbert, E. (2016). Youth receptivity to FDA’s The Real Cost Tobacco Prevention Campaign: Evidence from message pretesting. Journal of Health Communication, 21(11), 1153–1160. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2016.1233307
Zhao, X., & Cai, X. (2016). The association between exposure to “Tips” and smoking-related outcomes among adolescents in the United States. Health Education Research, 31(5), 614–623. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyw037
Zhao, X., Rolfe-Redding, J., & Kotcher, J. (2016). Partisan differences in the relationship between newspaper coverage and concern over global warming. Public Understanding of Science, 25, 543-559. Doi: 10.1177/0963662514558992
Zhao, X., Mao, Q., Kreps, G, Yu, G., Li, Y., Chou, W-Y., Persoskie, A., Nie, X, Xu, Z., Song, M., & Kim, P. (2015). Cancer information seekers in China: A preliminary profile. Journal of Health Communication, 20(5), 616–626. http://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2015.1012244
Zhao, X., Peterson, E., Kim, W., & Rolfe-Redding, J. (2014). Effects of self-affirmation on daily vs. occasional smokers’ responses to graphic warning labels. Communication Research, 41(8), 1137-1158. doi: 10.1177/0093650212465433
Zhao, X., Nan, X., Yang, B., & Iles, I. A. (2014). Cigarette warning labels: Graphics, framing, and identity. Health Education, 114(2), 101–117. doi:10.1108/HE-06-2013-0024
Zhao, X., Maibach, E., Gandy, J., Witte, J., Cullen, H., Klinger, B., Rowan, K., Witte, J., & Pyle, A. (2014). Climate change education through TV weathercasts: Results of a field experiment. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, 95, 117-130. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-12-00144.1
COMM 230- Case Studies in Persuasion
COMM 400- Introduction to Communication Research
COMM 302- Foundations of Mass Communication
COMM 430- Persuasion
COMM 600- Research Methods
COMM 620- Health Communication
COMM 632- Persuasion
COMM 750- Advanced Research Methods
COMM820 - Health Campaigns
Christian R. Seiter, The Death Message Processing Model: A Mixed Methods Evaluation of a Humor-Based Approach to Motivate Advance Care Planning (2021)
Di Pei , Chinese Parents’ Medical Decisions for Children: Why do they Choose Self-Medication with Antibiotics? (2020)
Xing Tong, Fatalism and the Processing of Fear Appeals Among Chinese: An Exploratory Study in the Context of Lung Cancer Prevention (2017)
Brenda L. MacArthur, Communication Beyond the Clinical Interaction: Delivering Comprehensive Healthcare to Patients with Intellectual Disabilities (2017)
Emily Peterson , Toward the Development of a Physician Training Curriculum to Improve Discussions about Electronic Cigarettes with Adolescent Athlete Patients (2016)
Wan-Lin Chang , Taiwanese Mother-Daughter Breast Cancer Communication and Its Influence on Daughters’ Prevention Behaviors (2015)