Jia Yan

Jia Yan

Doctoral Candidate in Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

jiayan2@illinois.edu

About Me

Hi! I am Jia, a Doctoral Candidate in Communication at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Before continuing into the doctoral program, I obtained my Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Psychology, and my Master’s degree in Communication, both from Illinois.

I study interpersonal and health communication. My research is guided by a central question: How can communication in personal relationships and healthcare settings reduce the burden of illness, support better health decision-making, and improve well-being? I focus on the role of communication in shaping how people understand health challenges and respond to support and advice, particularly in ways that are tied to identity, stigma, and relationships. My research revolves around two core areas.

My primary area of research focuses on supportive communication. I examine the ways people navigate social support for illness and health challenges within close relationships. Concerns about stigma, burden, or relational strain often make it difficult to express support needs. My work considers how these barriers vary across populations and relational contexts, and how they shape support seeking and communication of distress. My recent projects explore topics such as cultural and relational influences on mental health disclosure and support seeking, support-seeking struggles among young adult cancer patients, and the role of verbal person-centeredness and nonverbal cues in supporting individuals with invisible illness.

My second area examines how expert communication translates medical information into actionable patient understanding. I investigate the effects of communication strategies used by experts on patient interpretation, trust, and health behaviors. This work considers both the role of the message source and the ways messages are presented and understood. My goal is to identify communication practices that foster understanding, support patient autonomy, and reduce resistance to medical advice. My recent projects examine source as a strategy for reducing resistance to health recommendations, physicians’ use of analogies to explain medical information (e.g., describing the immune system as a sports team), and the impact of nonverbal communication in patient–provider interactions.

Across these areas, my research connects interpersonal communication and social influence perspectives to advance communication theory and inform practical approaches to improving health and well-being. My work has been published in top-tier journals such as the Communication Monographs, Patient Education and Counseling, Journal of Health Communication, and Health Communication.

For questions, access to publications, or to discuss potential collaborations, feel free to reach out via email at jiayan2@illinois.edu.

Education

  • 2020.08 - 2022.05, M.A., Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
  • 2016.08 - 2020.05, B.A., Communication and Psychology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

📬 News

📝 Publications

  • Yan, J., Guntzviller, L. M., & Bigsby, E. (Accepted). The influence of recommendation source on psychological reactance: A study among Black, Latino, and White participants. Communication Monographs.

  • Yan, J., Wilson, S. R., & Liao, D. (2025). Imagine your immune system is a sports team: Language expectancies in the use of physician analogies and jargon. Patient Education & Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2025.108810

  • Yan, J., & Bigsby, E. (2025). Explicating college students’ COVID-19 prevention behaviors: Integrating information seeking and response efficacy into the reasoned action approach. Journal of American College Health. https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2025.2451978

  • Liao, D., Yan, J., & Wilson, S. R. (2025). Beyond the words: How physicians’ verbal and nonverbal communication shape patients’ intentions to seek health information. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2025.2585307

  • Quick, B., *Caban, S., *Chung, M., & *Yan, J. (2025). Introducing Health Communication Science to Mental Health Researchers: An Examination of Information Seeking, Processing, and Dissemination Frameworks. In Yzer, M. & Siegal, J. (Eds.), The Handbook of Mental Health Communication. John Wiley & Sons. *Authors contributed equally and are listed in alphabetical order

  • Thompson, C. M., Bishop, M. J., Dillard, T. C., Maurice, J. M., Rollins, D. D., Pulido, M. D., Salas, M. J., Mendelson, E. A., Yan, J., Gerlikovski, E. R., Benevento, S. V., Zeinstra, C., & Kesavadas, T. (2025). Healing health care disparities: A pilot test of a virtual reality implicit bias training module for physicians in the context of Black maternal health. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2347000

  • Liao, D., Yan, J., & Wilson, S. R. (2023). How does physician (non)accommodation affect patient behavioral intention? Using a web-based experiment to examine indirect effects of language type on behavioral intentions through goal inferences and source appraisals. Journal of Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2023.2237435

Work in Progress

  • Yan, J., Guntzviller, L. M., Iannarino, N. T., Wang, N. O., Ray, C. D. (Under Review). Understanding young adult cancer patients’ support-seeking struggles in personal relationships. Journal blinded for peer review.

  • Liao, D., Hildenbrand, G., Yan, J., & Chen, H. (R&R Under Review). Do actions speak louder? The primacy of verbal person-centeredness for patients with invisible illness. Journal blinded for peer review.

  • Guntzviller, L. M., Caughlin, J. P., Yan, J., & Han, J. (Expected 2026). Historical Landscape of Support Theory. In Faw, H., Pederson, J. R., Holmstrom, A. J., & High, A. C. (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Supportive Communication.

  • Yan, J. (Manuscript in Preparation). From stigma to strategy: How cultural and relational contexts shape emerging adults’ mental health support seeking.

  • Guntzviller, L. M., Yan, J., Bigsby, E., Liao, D., Pool, K. E., Kelpinski, L. F., & Jacobs Farnworth, M. (Manuscript in Preparation). Considering the role of the advisor and their characteristics within advice response theory: Testing and comparing three models across White, Black, and Latino participants.

🎖 Funding, Honors, and Awards

  • 2026 Karl Wallace Award
    Department of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    Competitive award recognizing distinguished graduate student scholarship.

  • 2026 Hale Conference Travel Award ($1000)
    Department of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2025 Ruth Anne Clark Award ($1600 for dissertation research)
    Department of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2024-2025 Marion Morse Wood Fellowship ($12000)
    Graduate College, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2023–2025 Friends Conference Travel Award (Total: $2800)
    Department of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2020–2025 Teacher Ranked as Excellent
    Fall 2020*, Spring 2021, Fall 2021, Spring 2022*, Fall 2022, Spring 2023*, Fall 2023*, Spring 2024*, Fall 2024*, Spring 2025*
    University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
    *Denotes outstanding rating for top 10% of graduate instructors/ teaching assistants among campus

  • 2023, 2024 Conference Presentation Award (Total: $300)
    Graduate College, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  • 2023, 2024 Conference Travel Grant (Total: $400)
    Student Caucus, National Communication Association

  • 2021, 2023 Elizabeth Winter Young Fellowship (Total: $7500)
    Department of Communication, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

📚 Teaching

Average teaching effectiveness rating: 4.54/5

Instructor of Record

  • CMN101 Public Speaking
  • CMN336 Family Communication

Teaching Assistant

  • CMN102 Introduction to Communication
  • CMN230 Introduction to Interpersonal Communication