My Research

My research centers on strategic science communication. Specifically, I have two pipelines to maintain my scholarly productivity: 1) developing and testing theory-driven strategies (e.g., narrative persuasion, psychological distance) to effectively communicate health and science information on various topics, such as organ donation, clinical trials, and COVID-19 vaccine; and 2) analyzing and evaluating existing health and science messages, including news articles, online forums, and campaign messages. I have primarily utilized quantitative methods in my research (e.g., experiment, survey, content analysis), but I have also conducted in-depth interviews and textual analyses in some studies, as I am aware of the important theory-building role of qualitative research approaches as well.

Refereed Journal Articles

• Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, CE., Lee, N., Hong, Y., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2024). Using Short-Form Videos to Get Clinical Trial Newcomers to Sign Up: Message-Testing Experiment. Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR). https://doi.org/10.2196/49600. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• Lee, N., Hong, Y., Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, CE., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2024). Exploring the Strategic Use of TikTok for Clinical Trial Recruitment: How Audiences’ Prior Short-Form Video Usage Influences Persuasive Effects. Journal of Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2024.2339237. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• Lee, N., Hong, Y., Kirkpatrick, CE., Hu, S., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2024). COVID-19 vaccination communication: Effects of vaccine conspiracy beliefs and message framing among black and white participants. Vaccine. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2024.04.001. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• Hong, Y., Lee, N., Kirkpatrick, CE., Hu, S., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2024). “Trust Me, I’m a Doctor.” How TikTok Videos from Different Sources Influence Clinical Trial Participation. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2024.2346680. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1177/10755470221150503
• Hu, S., Kirkpatrick, CE., 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. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyac026. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• Kirkpatrick, CE., Hu, S., Lee, N., Hong, Y., Lee, S., Hinnant, A. (2022). Overcoming Black Americans’ psychological and cognitive barriers to clinical trial participation: Effects of news framing and exemplars. Health Communication. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2022.2105619. (All authors have contributed equally.)
• Fuzzell, L. N., Dodd, S., Hu, S., Hinnant, A., Lee, S., Cameron, G., & Garbutt, J. M. (2022). An informed approach to the development of primary care pediatric firearm safety messages. BMC pediatrics, 22(1), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-021-03101-4
• Hu, S., Boman, C., & Warner, B. (2021). Waiting for a match: Mitigating reactance in prosocial health behavior using psychological distance. Health Communication, 1-12. http://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2021.1974662
• Saffran, L., Hu, S.^*, Hinnant, A., Nagel, S., & Scherer, L. (2020). Constructing and influencing perceived authenticity in science communication: Experimenting with narrative. PLOS ONE, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0226711 (^*Corresponding author)
• Hinnant, A., Boman, C., Hu, S., Ashley, R., Chung, S., Lee, S., Dodd, S., Garbutt, J., & Cameron, G. (2019). The third rail of pediatric communication: Discussing firearm safety in well-child exams. Health Communication, 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2019.1700883
• Pritchard, A. D., Fudge, J & Hu, S. (2015). Rational choice in religious advertising: American religions adapt to the spiritual marketplace. Journal of Communication and Religion, 38(4), 15-35.

Book Chapter

• Dimitrova, D., & Hu, S. (2016). The 2014 midterm elections on local television: Frames, sources and valence. In Hendricks, J. & Schill, D (Eds.), Communication and Midterm Elections: Media, Message, and Mobilization (pp. 101-114). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.