As a researcher long immersed in health communication and cognitive psychology, Dr. Zhou’s research expertise lies in developing and evaluating innovative mobile technology-based interventions and theory-based communication strategies for cancer prevention and reducing cancer disparities. Focusing on emerging digital technologies, Dr. Zhou explores how mobile phone applications and immersive virtual reality could be designed to effectively collect health data, convey health information, facilitate health behavior change, and promote public health policies. Dr. Zhou also investigates the persuasive effects of various communication strategies and the psychological mechanisms of how people respond to health-related messages, including using narratives to reduce psychological reactance and unconscious health goal activation and contagion, especially among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations and ethnic minorities.
Areas of Expertise
- Health communication
- mHealth
- Narrative persuasion
- Virtual reality
- Information processing
Education, Licensure & Certifications
- PhD, Communication, Cornell University, 2017
Courses
- CBHS6628 Technology-Based Health Promotion: Introduction to Digital Health
Research
- CCTSI CO-Pilot Program, “Using Virtual Reality to Assess the Impacts of Environmental Cues on Craving among Low-Income Smokers”. 5/15/19-5/15/20. Role: PI.
- American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant, “Identifying Environmental Triggers of Smoking Behaviors in Low-income Communities to Improve Smoking Cessation Among Socioeconomically Disadvantaged Populations”. 1/1/18-12/31/19. Role: PI.
Publications and Presentations
- Zhou, S., Levinson, A., Zhang, X., Portz, J.D., Susan L. Moore, S.L., Gore, M.O., Ford, K.L., Li, Q., & Bull, S. (2020). A Pilot Study and Ecological Model of Smoking Cues to Inform Mobile Health Strategies for Quitting among Low-income Smokers. Health Promotion Practice. doi: 10.1177/1524839920942214
- Aitamurto, T., Zhou, S., Sakshuwong, S., Saldivar, J., Sadeghi, Y., & Tran, A. (2018). Sense of Presence, Attitude Change, Perspective-Taking and Usability in First-Person Split-Sphere 360° Video. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. ACM
- Zhou, S. & Shapiro, M. A. (2017). Reducing resistance to narrative persuasion about binge drinking: the role of self-activation and habitual drinking behavior. Health Communication, 32(10), 1297-1309. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2016.1219931
- Zhou, S. & Niederdeppe, J. (2017). The Promises and Pitfalls of Personalization in Narratives to Promote Social Change. Communication Monographs 84(3), 319-342. doi: 10.1080/03637751.2016.1246348
- Zhou, S., Shapiro, M. A., & Wansink, B. (2017). The Audience Eats More if a Movie Character Keeps Eating: An Unconscious Mechanism for Media Influence on Eating Behaviors. Appetite, 108, 407-415. doi: 10.1016/j.appet.2016.10.028
