Dr Olga (Olya) A. Zayts | People | School of English | Faculty of Arts

Associate Professor

Professor Olga Zayts

MPH KCL, MA, PhD St Petersburg, Russia, SFHEA (UK)

Associate Professor

Professor Olga Zayts

MPH KCL, MA, PhD St Petersburg, Russia, SFHEA (UK)

PROFILE

Dr. Olga Zayts is an interdisciplinary scholar who draws on her dual training in applied (socio)linguistics and public health to research healthcare communication. Since the beginning of her academic career, she has conducted research in different healthcare settings, including genetic and genomic medicine and counselling, dental education, Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), cancer clinics, end-of-life care, and most-recently mental health. She has published widely on topics related to communication between nurses, clinicians and migrant patients, health literacy (specifically, in genetic counselling and dental education contexts), inter-professional communication, and communication skills training that draws on sociolinguistic methods, among other topics.

Currently, Dr. Zayts leads the Research and Impact Initiative for Communication in Healthcare, HKU (HKU RIICH), where she also serves as the Founding Director. Her research group investigates cutting-edge topics in healthcare through interdisciplinary lenses of (socio)linguistics, social sciences and public health. Her research projects place emphasis on inter-professional dialogue, multicultural and multilingual awareness and real-world impacts and are conducted in close collaboration with public and private healthcare institutions, non-profit voluntary groups, and local and international business organizations.

For the latest development of Dr. Zayts’ research project, please visit Graduate Mindmap (graduatemindmap.com).

PUBLICATIONS

Monographs

Schnurr, S. & Zayts, O. (2017). Language and Culture at Work. Abingdon; New York: Routledge.

EDITED VOLUMES

Zayts, O. & Bridges, S. (eds). (2023) “Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing ‘Global Centres’ and ‘Peripheries’ in Healthcare Communication Research”. Routledge.

SPECIAL ISSUES

Edmonds, D., Zayts-Spence, O. & Fortune, Z. (eds.) (2023) Discourse, Mental Health and Stigma: A Sociolinguistic Perspective. Special Issue. BMC Psychology.

Zayts, O. & Norrick, N. (eds.) (2020). Narratives of Vicarious Experiences in Professional and Workplace Discourse. Journal of Pragmatics.

Kang, M. A. & Zayts, O. (eds.) (2010). Medical Communication in the Asia Context. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication 20(2).

JOURNAL ARTICLES

Tse, V. W. S., & Zayts-Spence, O. (2024). “Yu haf no idr how feckin fablus I feel rite now”:“Wine mom” humour in an online support group for mothers during COVID-19. Discourse, Context & Media, 61, 100816. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dcm.2024.100816

Edmonds, D.M., & Zayts-Spence, O. (2024) “I’m not an anxious person”: end-of-life care workers constructing positive psychological states. BMC Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-01885-5

Edmonds, D. M., Zayts-Spence, O., Au, I. N. Y., & Yuen, J. K. Y. (2024). “They are not taking it seriously”: Constructing family dynamics in end-of-life care interactions in Hong Kong. Death Studies, Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2024.2385383

Edmonds, D.M., Zayts-Spence, O., Fortune, Z., Chan, A., & Chou, J.S.G. (2024). A scoping review to map the research on the mental health of students and graduates during their university-to-work transitions. BMJ Open, 14(3), e076729. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-076729

Edmonds, D., Zayts-Spence, O., Fortune, Z., & Fung, S.Y.J. (2023). Graduates’ perceptions and employers’ expectations: Essential skills in Hong Kong workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Industry and Higher Education. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/09504222231224087

Zayts-Spence, O., Edmonds, D., & Fortune, Z. (2023). Mental Health, Discourse and Stigma. BMC Psychology, 11(1), 180.

Ng, S., Wong, W.C.P., Reidy, H, & Zayts, O. (2023).“It’s personal”: The relationship between personal mental health experiences and public expressions of mental health stigma. BJPsy Open, 9(3). https://doi.org/10.1192/bjo.2023.39

Zayts, O., Edmonds, D., Kong, C.K.B., & Fortune, Z. (2023). “The mental health of new and recent graduates during the university-to-work transition: A scoping review protocol. BMJ Open, doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2022-071357

Zayts, O., Fortune Z., & Tse W.S. (2022). “I am losing my sanity”: Online discourses of mental health of working mothers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Discourse and Society.

Edmonds, D., Zayts, O., Adler, C. (2022). Communicating in crisis: Reflections, opportunities, and challenges for healthcare communication in the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualitative Health Communication, 1(2): 104-117.

Lazzaro-Salazar, M. & Zayts, O. (2021) Migrant doctors' narratives about patients: A study of professional identity in Chile and Hong Kong. Narrative Inquiry. https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.21038.laz

Hui LC & Zayts, O. (2021) Elicitation of children’s understanding of information in pediatric genetic counseling: A discourse analytic approach. Journal of Genetic Counseling. https://doi.org/10.1002/jgc4.1523

Zayts, O., Chung, B.H.Y., & Fung, J.L.F. (2021). Cultural diversity in genetic counseling, or ‘Do language and culture really matter?’: An interdisciplinary investigation in Hong Kong. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 30(1): 75-84.

Wong, H.M., Bridges, S.M. Ma, K.W., Yiu CKY, McGrath, C.P., & Zayts, O.A.(2020). Advanced informatics understanding of clinician-patient communication: A mixed method approach to oral health literacy talk in interpreter-mediated pediatric dentistry. PLoS ONE, 15(3): e0230575.

Zayts, O. & Norrick, N. (2020). Narratives of vicarious experience in professional and workplace contexts: Introduction to the special issue. Journal of Pragmatics, 155: 64-49.

Zayts, O. (2020). “Pragmatics is the way of the future”: An interview with Neal Norrick. Journal of Pragmatics, 156: 16-23

Luo, Z., Zayts, O., & Shipman, H. (2020) “His story is truly vivid…”: The role of narratives of vicarious experience in commodification and marketisation of genetic testing in Chinese social media. Journal of Pragmatics, 155: 11-122.

Schnurr, S., Zayts, O., Schroeder, A., & Le Coyte-Hopkins, C. (2019). “It is not acceptable for the husband to stay at home”: Taking a discourse analytic perspective to capture the gendering at work. Gender, Work and Organization, 27 (3): 414-434.

Pilnick, A. & Zayts, O. (2019). The power of suggestion: Examining the impact of presence or absence of shared first language in the antenatal clinic. Sociology of Health and Illness, 41 (6): 1120-1137.

Zayts, O., Shipman, H., Fung, J. L-F., Liu, A. P-Y., Kwok, S-Y., Tsai, A. C-H., Yung, T-C., & Chung, B. H-Y. (2019). The different facets of “culture” in genetic counseling: A situated analysis of genetic counseling in Hong Kong. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part C: Seminars in Medical Genetics, 181(2): 187-195.*

Chan, A., Schnurr, S. & Zayts, O. (2018). Exploring face, identity and relational work in disagreements in business meetings in Hong Kong. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture, 14(2): 233-260.

Zayts, O. & Luo, Z. (2017). Commodification and marketization of genetic testing through online direct-to-consumer platforms. Discourse and Communication, 11(6), 630–647.

Laurino, M. Y., Leppig, K.A., Abad, P.J., Cham, B., Chu, Y., Kejriwal, S., Lee, J. M. H., Sternen, D. L., Thompson, J.K., Burgess, M., Chien, S., Elackatt, N., Lim, J. Y., Sura, T., Faradz, S., Padilla, C., Cutiongco de-la Paz, E., Nauphar, D., Khanh Nguyen, N., Zayts, O, Chi, D.V., & Thong, M.-K. (2017). The establishment of the Professional Society of Genetic Counselors in Asia: A Report from the genetic counseling pre-conference workshop held at the 11th Asia-Pacific Conference on Human Genetics in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Journal of Genetic Counselling, 27(1): 21-32.

Wong, H.M. G., Bridges, S.M., McGrath, C. P., Yiu, C. K. Y., Zayts, O., & Au, T.K.F. (2017). Impact of prominent themes in clinician-patient conversations on caregiver’s perceived quality of communication with paediatric dental visits. Plos One, 12(1): e0169059.

Zayts, O., Sarangi, S., & Schnurr, S. (2016). The management of diagnostic uncertainty and decision-making in genetics case conferences. Communication and Medicine, 13(1): 37-55.

Schnurr, S., Zayts, O., & Hopkins, C. (2016). Challenging hegemonic femininities. The discourse of trailing spouses in Hong Kong. Language in Society, 45 (4): 533-555.

Pilnick, A. & Zayts, O. (2016). Advice, authority and autonomy in Shared Decision Making in antenatal screening: The importance of context. Sociology of Health and Illness, 38 (3): 343-359.

Bridges, S., Drew, P., Zayts, O., McGrath, C., Yiu, C.K.Y., Wong, H. M., Au, T. K. F., & Chong, B.H. (2015). Interpreter-mediated Dentistry. Social Science and Medicine, 132: 197-207.

Chan, A., Zhang, W., Zayts, O., Tang M. H.Y., & Tam, W. K. (2015). Directive-giving and grammatical forms: Mitigation devices in a medical laboratory setting. Chinese Language and Discourse, 6 (2): 133-161.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2014). More than ‘information provider’ and ‘counselor’. Constructing and negotiating roles and identities of nurses in genetic counseling sessions. Journal of Sociolinguistics, 18(3): 345-369.

Pilnick, A. & Zayts, O. (2014). ‘It’s just a likelihood’: uncertainty as topic and resource in conveying ‘positive’ results in an antenatal screening clinic. Symbolic Interaction, 37(2): 187-208.

Yau, A. & Zayts, O. (2014). "I don’t want to see my children suffering after birth": The ‘risk of knowing’ talk and decision-making in prenatal screening for Down syndrome in Hong Kong. Health, Risk and Society, 16(3): 259-276.

Schnurr, S., van de Mieroop, D. & Zayts, O. (2014). Positioning oneself in relation to larger collectivities in expatriates’ workplace narratives. Narrative Inquiry, 24 (2).

Zayts, O., Sarangi, S., Thong, M.K., Chung, B.H.Y., Lo, I.F.M., Kan, A.S.Y., Lee, M.H., Padilla, C.D., Cutiongco-de la Paz, E.M., Faradz, M.H.S., & Wasant, P. (2013). Genetic counseling/consultation in South-East Asia: A report from the workshop at the 10th Asia Pacific Conference on Human Genetics. Journal of Genetic Counseling, 22 (6): 917-924.

Kang, M. A. & Zayts, O. (2013). Interactional difficulties as a resource for patient participation in a prenatal screening setting in Hong Kong. Patient Education and Counseling, 92: 38-44.

Schnurr, S. & Zayts, O. (2013). “I can't remember them ever not doing what I tell them!” Negotiating ‘upward’ refusals in multicultural workplaces in Hong Kong. Intercultural Pragmatics, 10 (4): 593 – 616.

Zayts, O. & Sarangi, S. (2013). Modes of risk explanation in telephone consultations between nurses and parents for a genetic condition. Health, Risk and Society, 5(2): 194-215.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2013). “[She] said: ‘take the test’ and I took the test”. Relational work as a framework to approach directiveness in prenatal screening of Chinese clients in Hong Kong. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behavior, Culture, 9(2): 187-210.

Schnurr, S. & Zayts, O. (2012). ‘You have to do what you have to do’: Constructing professional identities in multicultural workplaces in Hong Kong. Pragmatics, 22(2): 279-299.

Pilnick, A. & Zayts, O. (2012). “Let’s have it tested first”: Choice and circumstances in decision-making following positive antenatal screening in Hong Kong. Sociology of Health and Illness, Special issue, The Sociology of Medical Screening: Past, Present and Future, N. Armstrong & H. Eborall, eds., 34 (2): 266-282.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2011). Laughter as a medical provider’s resource: Negotiating informed choice in prenatal genetic counseling. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 44 (1): 1-20.

Zayts, O. & Kang, A.M. (2010). Communication in healthcare settings: Interactional perspectives from Asia. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 20(2): 165-168.

Zayts, O. & Kang, A. M. (2010). Information delivery in prenatal genetic counseling: On the role of initial Inquiries. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 20(2): 243-259.

Kang, M. A. & Zayts, O. (2010). Patient participation within a globalised patient population: Interactional difficulties in a prenatal counseling context in Hong Kong. Journal of Asian Pacific Communication, 20(2): 169-184.

Zayts, O. & Kang, A.M. (2009). ‘So, what test do you prefer?’ Negotiating politic behavior in an L2 prenatal genetic counselling setting in Hong Kong. Journal of Politeness Research: Language, Behaviour, Culture, 5 (1): 33-52.

BOOK CHAPTERS

Edmonds, D. M., & Zayts-Spence, O. (2023). Conclusion: Advancing healthcare communication research in “Global Peripheries.” In O. Zayts-Spence & S. M. Bridges (Eds.), Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing the Centers and Peripheries of Healthcare Communication Research (pp. 173–192). Routledge.

Luo, Z., & Zayts-Spence, O. (2023). The discursive construction and negotiation of genetic knowledge in an online health forum in Mainland China. In O. Zayts-Spence & S. M. Bridges (Eds.), Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing the Centers and Peripheries of Healthcare Communication Research (pp. 138–153). Routledge.

Shipman, H. & Zayts, O. (2023) The “mad consultant dealing with mad people”: A discursive historical approach to tensions regarding mental health stigma in Hong Kong. To appear in: Zayts, O. & Bridges, S. eds. Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing ‘Global Centres’ and ‘Peripheries’ in Healthcare Communication Research. Routledge.

Edmonds, D. M., Zayts-Spence, O., & Yuen, J. K. Y. (2023). Exploring end-of-life care in palliative care consultations in Hong Kong. In O. Zayts-Spence & S. M. Bridges (Eds.), Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing the Centers and Peripheries of Healthcare Communication Research (pp. 82–100). Routledge.

Zayts, O. (2023) Introduction to “Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing ‘Global Centers’ and ‘Peripheries’ in Healthcare Communication Research”. In O. Zayts-Spence & S. M. Bridges (Eds.), Language, Health and Culture: Problematizing the Centers and Peripheries of Healthcare Communication Research. Routledge.

Zayts, O., Sarangi, S. & Schnurr, S. (2023). Shared expertise in negotiating future actions in the genetics case conference. In S. Sarangi & P. Linell, eds. Team Talk. Decision-making across the Boundaries in Health and Social Care. London: Equinox Publishing.

Zayts, O. & Lazzaro-Salazar, M. (2020). A sociolinguistic investigation of professional mobility and multicultural healthcare communication. In Z. Demjén, ed. Applying Linguistics in Illness and Healthcare Contexts. Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 299-325.

Zayts, O. & Zhou, F. (2020). Politeness and relational work in novel digital contexts of healthcare communication. In D. Archer, K. Grainger & P. Jogodziński, eds. Politeness in Professional Contexts. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 107-126.

Zayts, O. (2017). Genetic Counselling/Consultations in Non-English Dominant Contexts: Decision-making regarding testing. In B. Vine, ed. Routledge Handbook of Language in the Workplace (Handbooks in Linguistics Series). Routledge, pp. 187-199.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2017). Epistemic ‘struggles’. When nurses’ expert identity is challenged by ‘knowledgeable’ clients. In D. van de Mieroop & S. Schnurr, eds. Identity Struggles. Evidence from Workplaces around the World.Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins, pp. 79-93.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2017). Patient laughter as an interactional resource in an L2 context of prenatal screening in Hong Kong. In N. Bell, ed. Multiple Perspectives on Language Play. Language Play and Creativity Series, vol. 1, Berlin, Boston: de Gruyter Mouton. 119-142.

Schnurr, S., Chan, A., Loew, J. & Zayts, O. (2017). Leadership and culture: When stereotypes meet actual workplace practice. In C. Ilie & S. Schnurr, eds. Challenging leadership stereotypes through discourse: Power, management and gender. Springer, pp. 95-117.

Zayts, O. & Pilnick, A. (2014). Genetic counseling in multilingual and multicultural contexts. In H. Hamilton & Chou, W.-Y., eds. Handbook on Language and Health Communication. London and New York: Routledge, pp. 557-572.

Zayts, O. & Schnurr, S. (2012). “You may know better than I do”. Negotiating advice-giving on Down syndrome screening in a Hong Kong prenatal hospital. In H. Limberg & M. A. Locher, eds. Advice in Discourse. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 195-212.

Zayts, O., Wake, V. Y., & Schnurr, S. (2012). Chinese prenatal genetic counseling discourse in Hong Kong: Health care providers’ (non)directive stance, or who is making the decision. In Y. Pan & D. Gazdar, eds. Chinese Discourse and Interaction: Theory and Practice. London: Equinox. 228-247.

Pilnick, A. & Zayts, O. (2012). “Let’s have it tested first”: Choice and circumstances in decision-making following positive antenatal screening in Hong Kong. In N. Armstrong & H. Eborall, eds. The Sociology of Medical Screening: Critical Perspectives, New Directions. 1st edition. Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Schnurr, S. & Zayts, O. (2011). Be(com)ing a leader. A case study of co-constructing professional identities at work. In J. Angouri & M. Marra, (eds). Professional Identity. Basingstoke [England]; New York Palgrave McMillan, pp. 40-60.

Zayts, O., Kang, M.A. & Zhang, W. (2009). Pursuing informed choice in prenatal genetic counseling: a discourse analytic perspective. In R. Ma, ed. 醫病溝通知多少 (How Much Do You Know about Doctor-Patient Communication?). Hong Kong: 匯知教育出版有限公司 (KAI Education Publishing Co., Ltd.) (in Chinese). 161-187.

RESEARCH REPORTS

Zayts-Spence, O., Fortune, Z., Edmonds, D., Chan, C. K. Y., Fung, J., Luk, P., Thiang, O., Wong, P. W. C., Chan, A., & Chou, S. G. (2023). University to Work Transitions: Students and Graduates’ Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hong Kong. In City Mental Health Alliance Hong Kong. HKU Research and Impact Initiative on Communication in Healthcare. https://www.cmhahk.org/docs/Research/HKU-RIICH-Corporate-Report.pdf

Zayts-Spence, O., Edmonds, D. M., Fortune, Z., Chan, C., Fung, J., Hafner, C., Ho, J., Lee, C., Luk, P., Thiang, O., Wong, P. W. C., Chan, A., & Chou, S. G. (2023). Pandemic Transitions: Graduating from University into the Workforce in Hong Kong during COVID-19. In Hong Kong Student Services Association. HKU Research and Impact Initiative on Communication in Healthcare. https://www.hkssa.org.hk/_files/ugd/905996_55402e4ffa704d698d5d1a849be91a63.pdf

TEL

3917-7275

E-MAIL

zayts@hku.hk

OFFICE

Room 837, 8/F, Run Run Shaw Tower, Centennial Campus

(Interactional) Pragmatics; Conversation analysis; Discourse analysis; Identity; Intercultural communication; Leadership; Politeness; Professional communication (in particular, in healthcare and business contexts)