Yoorim Hong is a PhD candidate at the Missouri School of Journalism. Her research is rooted in strategic communication with an emphasis on public relations and health communication.

Building upon theories and models about how information is processed and how it affects behavior, she aims to develop effective mediated messages (e.g., organizations’ websites or social media posts, health news, and campaigns) that can influence the public’s perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors related to organizations or health topics. In addition to testing the effectiveness of different messaging features through experimental research, she considers how the impact of those features would differ based on audience members’ individual characteristics.

Yoorim served as a research assistant and a teaching assistant at the Missouri School of Journalism. As a research assistant, she engaged in a national grant-funded project on developing persuasive messages to increase clinical trial participation and COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. As a teaching assistant, she taught Strategic Communication Research Methods, Public Relations Writing, and Health News and Promotion. Her approach in teaching public relations has been inspired by her professional experience as a staff for a technology planning team at KEPCO E&C (a nuclear and thermal power plant engineering company in south Korea), where she gained hands-on experience in informing and persuading various stakeholders such as the dominant coalition members of the company, colleagues within and across teams, and government agencies via diverse communication channels.

Yoorim earned a master’s degree in communication and a bachelor’ degree in journalism and mass communication from Korea University in South Korea.

Publications

Referred Journal Articles

Hinnant, A., Hu, S., Hong, Y., & Young, R. (2023). Contested certainty and credibility: The effect of personal stories and scientific evidence in user comments on news story evaluation and relevance. Science Communication, 45(1), 65–94.

Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, C., Hong, Y., Lee, N., Lee, S., & Hinnant, A. (2022). *Improving rural White men’s attitudes toward clinical trial messaging and participation: Effects of framing, exemplars and trust. Health Education Research, 37(6), 476–494. *equal contributions by authors

Kirkpatrick, C., Hu, S., Lee, N., Hong, Y., Lee, S., & Hinnant, A. (2022). *Overcoming barriers to clinical trial participation among Black Americans. Health Communication, 1–13. *equal contributions by authors

Hong, Y., & Yoon, Y. (2017). An exploratory study on the determinants of the public’s communication behavior toward corporations in social media: Focusing on perceived collective efficacy, public opinion perception and impression management. Journal of Public Relations, 21(6), 69–106. (Written in Korean and published in a Korean peer-reviewed journal)

Book Chapters

Hinnant, A. & Hong, Y. (2022). Health and medical journalism. Gregory Borchard (Ed.), The Sage Encyclopedia of Journalism. SAGE Publications.

Referred Conference Papers

Lee, N., Hong, Y., Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, C., Lee, S., & Hinnant, A. *Exploring the strategic use of TikTok for clinical trial recruitment: How audiences’ prior short-form video usage influences persuasive effects. Communicating Science, Health, Environment, and Risk Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, Washington, DC, August 2023 *equal contributions by authors

Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, C., Lee, N., Hong, Y., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. *TikTok as a clinical trial recruitment tool? Effects of Message Source and Framing on Participation Behavior. Accepted to Health Communication Division, International Communication Association Conference, Toronto, Canada, May 2023 *equal contributions by authors

Hong, Y., Lee, N., Kirkpatrick, C., Hu, S., Lee, S., & Hinnant, A. *Effects of framing and visuals in COVID-19 vaccination messages: Race and vaccine status as moderators.” Health Communication Division, International Communication Association Conference, Paris, France, May 2022 *equal contributions by authors

Kirkpatrick, C., Hu, S., Lee, N., Hong, Y., Lee, S., & Hinnant, A. *Overcoming barriers to clinical trial participation among Black Americans. Health Communication Division, International Communication Association Conference, Paris, France, May 2022 *equal contributions by authors

Hong, Y. Content analysis of CEOs’ statements about COVID-19: Focusing on environmental perceptions, organizational openness, and transformational leadership for CSR. Public Relations Division, International Communication Association Conference, virtual, May 2021

Hong, Y. Explicating moral responsibility in crisis communication. Public Relations Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Conference, virtual, August 2020

Kirkpatrick, C., Lee, N., Hong, Y., & Lee, S. Cognitive and emotional processing of Instagram posts: The impact of thin vs. overweight body portrayals. Health Communication Division, International Communication Association Conference, virtual, May 2020

Hinnant, A., Hu, S., Hong, Y., Young, R. Exploring the effects of reader comments on perceptions of non-controversial health stories. Kentucky Conference on Health Communication, virtual, April 2020

Hong, Y. Communicating risk through online petitions system: Rhetorical analysis of the Korean government’s responses to online petitions on risk issues. International Crisis and Risk Communication Conference, Orlando, Florida, March 2020

Hong, Y. How discussion on a contested technology on Twitter changes: Semantic network analysis of tweets about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology. 2018 Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society, Seoul, South Korea

Hong, Y. The impact of rational and emotional messages and individuals’ risk perception on online music piracy behavior. The 2016 Autumn Conference of the Korean Society for Journalism & Communication Studies (written and presented in Korean), Seoul, South Korea.

Scholarship and Research Funding

Curator’s Grant-In-Aid Scholarship, University of Missouri, Fall 2023   

Paul Synor Fellowship, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Fall 2022–Spring 2023

Donald S. Mozley Scholarship, School of Journalism, University of Missouri, Spring 2021, Fall 2022–Spring 2023  

Scholarship for Graduate Students, Women Financial Aid Committee in The National Unification Advisory Council (Korean government agency), Spring 2018           

Research Funding for Outstanding Graduate Students Studying Public Relations, Korean Academic Society for Public Relations (provided through online survey data collection from 400 participants), Spring 2016