Lucy Popova
Associate Professor Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences- Education
Ph.D., Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara (2010)
M.A., Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara (2008)
B.A., Economics and Business, Westmont College (2001)
- Biography
Dr. Lucy Popova is an Associate Professor in Health Policy & Behavioral Sciences and a Second Century Initiative (2CI) scholar in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University.
Dr. Popova’s research lies at the intersection of health communication and tobacco control, focusing on creating and evaluating effective messages that use emotion and information to reduce initiation and increase quitting of tobacco products. In her studies, she uses content analysis, quantitative (surveys, randomized experiments), qualitative (focus groups, in-depth interviews), and mixed methods. Two of her publications received Paper of the Year awards.
Her research has been funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) of the National Institute of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the CDC Foundation, and others.
Before joining the faculty at Georgia State in 2016, Dr. Popova was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of California, San Francisco’s Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education.
- Publications
Select Publications
Pei, D., Reynolds, R. M., Ntansah, C. A., Hackworth, E. E., Henderson, K. C., Yang, B., Duong, H. T., Ashley, D. L., Thrasher, J. F., & Popova, L. (2024). Independent and combined effects of very low nicotine cigarette messages and e-cigarette messages: A randomized clinical trial. Tobacco Control. doi: 10.1136/tc-2023-058556
Popova, L., Massey, Z. B., & Giordano, N. A. (2024). Warning labels as a public health intervention: Effects and challenges for tobacco, cannabis, and opioid medications. Annual Review of Public Health. doi: 10.1146/annurev-publhealth-060922-042254
Cham, B., Corr, R.S., Weaver, S.R., Eriksen, M.P., & Popova, L. (2023). Intravaginal insertion of tobacco among women in sub-Saharan Africa. Tobacco Control. doi: 10.1136/tc-2022-057831
Reynolds, R. M., Popova, L., Ashley, D. L., Henderson, K. C., Ntansah, C. A., Yang, B., Loud, E. E., Hardin, J. W., & Thrasher, J. F. (2022). Messaging about Very Low Nicotine Cigarettes (VLNCs) to Influence Policy Attitudes, Harm Perceptions, and Smoking Motivations: A Discrete Choice Experiment. Tobacco Control. doi: 10.1136/tc-2022-057577. PMCID: PMC10043050.
Popova, L., Henderson, K., Kute, N., Singh-Looney, M., Ashley, D.L., Reynolds, R.M., Nayak, P., & Spears, C.A. (2023). “I’m bored and I’m stressed”: A qualitative study of exclusive smokers, ENDS users, and transitioning smokers or ENDS users in the time of COVID-19. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 25(2), 185-192. doi: 10.1093/ntr/ntab199. PMCID: PMC8522380.
Duong, H., Loud, E.E., Thrasher, J.F., Henderson, K., Ashley, D.L., & Popova, L. (2022). ‘It brings light to what you really put into your body’: a focus group study of reactions to messages about nicotine reduction in cigarettes. Tobacco Control, 31; 649-654. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056312. PMCID: PMC8521550.
Yang, B., Massey, Z., & Popova, L. (2022). Effects of modified risk tobacco product claims on consumer comprehension and risk perceptions of IQOS. Tobacco Control, 31(e1), e41-e49. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2020-056191. PMCID: PMC8426425.
Massey, Z., Li, Y., Holli, J., Churchill, V., Yang, B., Henderson, K., Ashley, D., Huang, J., & Popova, L. (2020) Modifications to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS): A Content Analysis of YouTube Videos. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 22(6), e17104. doi:10.2196/17104. PMCID: PMC7298628
Churchill, V., Weaver, S.R., Spears, C.A., Huang, J., Massey, Z.B., Fairman, R.T., Pechacek, T.F., Ashley, D.L., & Popova, L. (2020). IQOS debut in the USA: Philip Morris International’s heated tobacco device introduced in Atlanta, Georgia. Tobacco Control. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055488
Popova, L., Owusu, D., Nyman, A., Weaver, S.R., Yang, B., Huang, J., & Ashley, D. (2019). Effects of framing nicotine reduction in cigarettes on anticipated tobacco product use intentions and risk perceptions among US adult smokers. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 21, Issue Supplement_1, S108–S116. doi: 0.1093/ntr/ntz146. PMCID: PMC6939750
Owusu, D., Lawley, R., Yang, B., Henderson, K., Bethea, B., LaRose, C., Stallworth, S., & Popova, L. (2020). “The lesser devil you don't know”: A qualitative study of smokers' responses to messages communicating comparative risk of electronic and combusted cigarettes. Tobacco Control, 29, 217-223. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054883. PMCID: PMC6821570
Popova, L., Nonnemaker, J., Taylor, N., Bradfield, B., & Kim, A. (2019). Warning Labels on Sugar-Sweetened Beverages: An Eye Tracking Approach. American Journal of Health Behavior, 43(2), 406-419. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.43.2.16. PMCID: PMC6639808
Popova, L., Lempert, L.K., & Glantz, S.A. (2018). Light and mild redux: Heated tobacco products' reduced exposure claims are likely to be misunderstood as reduced risk claims. Tobacco Control, 27:s87–s95. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2018-054324. PMCID: PMC6202239
Popova, L., Majeed, B., Owusu, D., Spears, C.A., & Ashley, D.L. (2018). Who are the smokers who never plan to quit and what do they think about the risks of using tobacco products? Addictive Behaviors, 87:62-68. doi: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2018.06.024. PMCID: PMC6109416
Popova, L., Owusu, D., Weaver, S.R., Kemp, C.B., Mertz, C.K., Pechacek, T.F., & Slovic, P. (2018). Affect, risk perception, and the use of cigarettes and e-cigarettes: A population study of U.S. adults. BMC Public Health, 18:395. doi: 10.1186/s12889-018-5306-z. PMCID: PMC5863900
Popova, L., McDonald, E.A., Sidhu, S., Barry, R., Richers Maruyama, T.A., Sheon, N.M., & Ling, P.M. (2017). Perceived harms and benefits of tobacco, marijuana, and electronic vaporizers among young adults in Colorado: Implications for health education and research. Addiction. doi: 10.1111/add.13854. PMCID: PMC5593776
Popova, L., Owusu, D., Jenson, D., & Neilands, T.B. (2018). Factual text and emotional pictures: Overcoming a false dichotomy of cigarette warning labels. Tobacco Control. doi: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2016-053563. PMCID: PMC5650578
Popova, L. (2016). Sugar-sweetened beverage warning labels: Lessons learned from the tobacco industry. Journal of the California Dental Association, 44(10), 633-640. PMCID: PMC5297396
Popova, L. (2016). Can we resolve the disconnect between how communication interventions work and how we evaluate them? Health Education and Behavior, 43(2), 121-124. doi: 10.1177/1090198116629423
Popova, L., & Ling, P.M. (2014). Nonsmokers' responses to new warning labels on smokeless tobacco and electronic cigarettes: an experimental study. BMC Public Health, 14:997. doi:10.1186/1471-2458-14-997.
Popova, L., Neilands, T.B., & Ling, P.M. (2014). Testing messages to reduce smokers’ openness to using novel smokeless tobacco products. Tobacco Control, 32, 313-321. doi:10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050723.
Grana, R. L., Popova, L., & Ling, P. M. (2014). A longitudinal analysis of e-cigarette use and smoking cessation. JAMA Internal Medicine, 174(5), 812-813. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2014.187.
Popova, L. (2014). Scaring the snus out of smokers: Testing effects of fear, threat, and efficacy on smokers’ acceptance of novel smokeless tobacco products. Health Communication, 29, 924-936. doi: 10.1080/10410236.2013.824063. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24359298
Popova, L., & Ling, P. M. (2013). Alternative tobacco product use and smoking cessation: A national study. American Journal of Public Health, 103, 923–930. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301070.
Popova, L. (2012). The extended parallel process model: Illuminating the gaps in research. Health Education and Behavior, 39, 455 - 473. doi:10.1177/1090198111418108