Biography
Evelyn Y. Ho is a professor of communication studies, Asian Pacific American studies, and critical diversity studies, and a faculty chair of the Honors College at the University of San Francisco. Beginning with an understanding that communication is a cultural activity and that health care systems and beliefs are profoundly cultural, Professor Ho's teaching and research focus broadly on the intersections of health, culture, and communication. Health care in the United States is increasingly confronted with a variety of domestic and international-based alternatives and complementary therapies to western biomedicine and her research studies the discursive construction of holistic, complementary, and integrative medicine especially in relationship to biomedicine.
In 2014, Professor Ho co-taught USF’s first-ever Pacific Islander course — the Davies Forum — Pondering Paradise: Contemporary Issues Through a Pacific Lens. Evelyn Ho has previously chaired both the Health Communication Division and the Language and Social Interaction Division of the International Communication Association (ICA).
- Appointments
- Interim Director of Administration, MA in Asia Pacific Studies
- Faculty Chair, USF Honors College
- Education
- PhD/MA, Communication Studies, University of Iowa
- BA, Speech Communication, University of Washington
- Experience
- Applied Health Communication
- Cultural Communication
- Language and Social Interaction
- Complementary and Integrative Health
- Asian Pacific American Studies
- Patient Health Education
- Research
- Health communication
- Cultural communication
- Language and social interaction
- Complementary and integrative health
- Asian Pacific American studies
- Patient health education
- Selected Publications
Ho, E. Y., Lalancette, C., & Leung, G., (in press). “Using Chinese medicine in a Western way”: Negotiating integrative Chinese medicine treatment for type 2 diabetes. Communication & Medicine.
Ho, E. Y., Cady, K. A., Robles, J. S. (2016, epub). A case study of the neti pot’s rise, Americanization, and rupture as integrative medicine in US media discourse. Health Communication. doi:10.1080/10410236.2015.1047145
Koenig, C. J., Ho, E. Y., Trupin, L., & Dohan, D. (2015). An exploratory typology of provider responses that encourage and discourage conversation about complementary and integrative medicine during routine oncology visits. Patient Education & Counseling, 98, 857-863. doi:10.1016/j.pec.2015.02.018.
Ho, E. Y., Tran, H., & Chesla, C. A. (2015). Assessing the cultural in culturally sensitive printed patient education materials for Chinese Americans with Type 2 diabetes. Health Communication, 30, 39-49. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2013.835216.
Ho, E. Y. (2015). Qi (Chinese). In K. Tracy, C. Ilie & T. Sandel (Eds.). The International Encyclopedia of Language & Social Interaction. Boston: John Wiley & Sons.
Robles, J. S. & Ho, E. Y. (2014). Interactional formats and institutional context: A practical and exploitable distinction in interviews. Text & Talk, 34, 443-465. doi: 10.1515/text-2014-0011.
Ho, E. Y., & Koenig, C. J. (2014). Provider-patient communication about complementary and alternative medicine. In H. E. Hamilton & W-Y. S. Chou (Eds.). The Routledge Handbook of Language and Health Communication. (506-519). London: Routledge.
Ho, E. Y. (2014a). Complementary and alternative medicine. In T. L. Thompson (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Health Communication. Volume 1. (65-70). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Ho, E. Y. (2014b). Socio-cultural factors in health communication. In N. G. Harrington (Ed.). Exploring Health Communication from Multiple Perspectives. (212-239). New York: Routledge.
Witteborn, S., Milburn, T., & Ho, E. Y. (2013). The ethnography of communication as applied methodology: Insights from three case studies. Journal of Applied Communication Research, 41, 188-194. doi: 10.1080/00909882.2013.782421.
Ho, E. Y., Chesla, C. A., & Chun, K. M. (2012). Health communication with Chinese Americans about type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Educator, 38, 66-75. doi: 10.1177/0145721711428774.
Koenig, C. J., Ho, E. Y., Yadegar, V., & Tarn, D. M. (2012). Negotiating complementary and alternative medicine use in primary care visits with older patients. Patient Education & Counseling, 89, 368–373. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2012.02.020.
Ho, E. Y. & Robles, J. S. (2011). Cultural resources for health participation: Examining biomedicine, acupuncture and massage therapy for HIV–related peripheral neuropathy. Health Communication, 26(2), 135–146. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2010.541991.
Bylund, C. L., D'Agostino, T. A., Ho, E. Y., & Chewning, B. A. (2010). Improving clinical communication and promoting health through concordance-based patient education. Communication Education, 59(3), 294–311. doi: 10.1080/03634521003631952.
Ho, E. Y., Koenig, C. J., Wingard, L. & Bansavich, J. (2009). Learning LSI means doing LSI: Reflections on technology use in two Language and Social Interaction courses. Electronic Journal of Communication, 19(1-2).
Ho, E. Y., Bylund, C. L., Rosenbaum, M., & Herwaldt, L. A. (2009). Teaching health communication through found poems created from patients' stories. Communication Teacher, 23, 93–98. doi: 10.1080/17404620902779512.
Ho, E. Y. & Bylund, C. L. (2008). Models of health and models of health delivery in the practitioner-client relationship in acupuncture. Health Communication, 23, 506–515. doi: 10.1080/10410230802460234.
Baxter, L., Egbert, N. & Ho, E. (2008). Everyday health communication experiences of college students. Journal of American College Health, 56, 427–435. doi: 10.3200/JACH.56.44.427-436.
Ho, E. Y. (2007). "Have you seen your aura lately?": Examining boundary–work in holistic health pamphlets. Qualitative Health Research, 17, 26–37. doi: 10.1177/1049732306296364.
Ho, E. Y. (2006). Behold the power of Qi: The importance of Qi in the discourse of acupuncture. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 39, 411–440. doi: 10.1207/s15327973rlsi3904_3.
Zickmund, S., Ho, E. Y., Masuda, M., Ippolito, L. & LaBrecque, D. R. (2003). "They treated me like a leper": Stigmatization and the emotional burden of hepatitis C. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 18, 835–844. doi: 10.1046/j.1525-1497.2003.20826.x.
Ghannam, J., Afana, A., Ho, E. Y., Al-Khal, A., & Bylund, C. L. (accepted, in press). The multi-level impact of a stress management intervention on medical residents' stress and burnout. International Journal of Stress Management.
Ho, E. Y., Leung, G., Chi, H.-L., Huang, S., Zhang, H., Ting, I., Chan, D., Chen, Y., Pritzker, S., Hsieh, E., & Seligman, H. K. (2019). Integrative medicine focus groups as a source of patient agency and social change in Dutta, M. & Zapata, D. (Eds.). Communicating for Social Change: Intersection of Theory and Praxis. (285-310). Palgrave-McMillan: Singapore.
Ho, E. Y., Acquah, J., Chao, C., Leung, G., Ng, D., Chao, M. T., Wang, A., Ku, S., Chen, W., Yu., C. K., Xu, S., Chen, M., & Jih, J. (2018). Heart healthy integrative nutritional counseling (H2INC): Creating a Chinese medicine + Western medicine patient education curriculum for Chinese Americans with heart disease. Patient Education & Counseling, 101, 2202-2208.
Chi, H.-L., Cataldo, J., Ho, E. Y., & Rehm, R. S. (2018). “Please ask gently: Using culturally targeted communication strategies to initiate end-of-life care discussions with older Chinese Americans. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 35, 1265-1272.
Leung, G., Ho, E. Y., Chi, H.-L., Chen, Y., Ting, I., Huang, S., Zhang, H., Pritzker, S., Hsieh, E., & Seligman, H. (2018). “We (Tang) Chinese”: Contemporary health management and identity positioning among Cantonese Chinese Americans with type 2 diabetes. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication, 11, 271-285.
Chi, H.-L., Cataldo, J., Ho, E. Y., & Rehm, R. S. (2018). “Can we talk about it now?” Recognizing the optimal time to initiate end-of-life care discussions with Chinese-American older adults and their families. Journal of Transcultural Nursing, 29, 532-539.
Ho, E. Y., Lie, S., Luk, P. P. L., & Dutta, M. J. (2018). Speaking of health in Singapore using the Singlish term heaty in M. Scollo & T. Milburn (Eds.). Cultural discourse analysis in situated contexts: A tribute to Donal Carbaugh. (3-19). Fairleigh Dickinson University Press.
- Awards & Distinctions
Research Innovation Award, Integrative Medicine for the Underserved, 2019
USF MA in Asia Pacific Studies Service Award for Faculty, 2018
USF College of Arts and Sciences Collective Achievement Award, 2017 (awarded to the Critical Diversity Studies Program)
Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program Research Award Alternate to Singapore, 2014–2015
USF University Faculty Service Learning Award, 2012
Top Four Paper Award, Western States Communication Association Language and Social Interaction Division, 2008