College of Education and Human Development

School of Social Work

People

Jihee Woo

  • Assistant Professor

Social determinants of mental health; lower-wage healthcare workers; Asian American health disparities; workplace conditions and unionization

    DEGREES

    PhD, University of Pittsburgh
    MSW, University of Pittsburgh
    BA/BS, Konkuk University

      AREAS OF INTEREST

      Social determinants of mental health; lower-wage healthcare workers; Asian American health disparities; workplace conditions and unionization

        BIOGRAPHY

        Jihee Woo is a social work scholar who studies the social determinants of mental health with a focus on two groups: lower-wage healthcare workers and Asian Americans. Her research on healthcare workers examines how low wages, material hardship, and precarious labor conditions—shaped by unionization and workplace structures—affect mental health. In parallel, her work with Korean American and Asian American communities explores how racial discrimination, language barriers, and cultural contexts contribute to health disparities.

        She has been an active contributor to large-scale community-based studies, including the Pittsburgh Wage Study, and has co-authored multiple reports aimed at advancing worker-generated solutions to structural inequities. Her research program bridges academic inquiry and applied social work practice, with the goal of informing policies that improve health equity, strengthen labor protections, and promote social justice for underserved communities.

          PUBLICATIONS

          Lee, H., Luo, Y., Won, C., Woo, J., Lee, J., & Baik, J. (in press). Association between social media use for health purposes and depressive symptoms. American Journal of Health Behavior.

          Woo, J., Shook, J., Tillman, H., Vang, H., & Goodkind, J. (2025). Unionization in healthcare: Examining working conditions and worker mental health outcomes in hospital settings. Labor Studies Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160449X251370759

          Chon, M., Sagong, H., Woo, J., & Lee, H. (2025). Mediating role of racial discrimination on the relationship between English proficiency and health outcomes among Korean Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work. https://doi.org/10.1080/15313204.2025.2511947

          Lu, J., Woo, J., & Lee, H. (2025). Determinants of mental health service utilization among Asian Americans: An analysis of the 2022 National Health Interview Survey. Journal of Rehabilitation, 90(1), 35–44.

          Kim, S., Woo, J., Engel, R. J., Goodkind, S., & Shook, J. J. (2025). COVID-19-era government cash transfers and one year after: Material hardship and mental health among full-time hospital workers. Journal of Social Service Research, 51(3), 948–959. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2025.2465336

          Woo, J., Lu, J., Won, C., & Lee, H. Y. (2024). The relationship between perceived discrimination and depression among Korean Americans living in the Deep South: Social support as a mediator. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. https://doi.org/10.1086/734179

          Kim, S., Thyberg, C. T., Engel, R. J., Wexler, S., & Woo, J. (2024). Does working full-time guarantee hospital service workers’ material well-being? A latent class regression analysis. Social Work Research. https://doi.org/10.1093/swr/svae020

          Wexler, S., Kim, S., Engel, R., Woo, J., & Shook, J. (2024). Can workers and their families live on a living wage? The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare, 50(4), Article 3. https://doi.org/10.15453/0191-5096.4746

          Shook, J., Goodkind, S., Ballentine, K., Woo, J., Engel, R., Tillman, H., & Schleitwiler, T. (2023). Using research to build power: The Pittsburgh Wage study. Journal of Community Practice, 31(3–4), 488–508. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2023.2272152

          Ballentine, K. L., Woo, J., Tillman, H., & Goodkind, S. (2023). “You have to keep in mind that you’re dealing with people’s lives”: How hospital service workers enact an ethic of care. New Solutions: A Journal of Environmental and Occupational Health Policy. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10482911231164906

          Woo, J., Shook, J., Goodkind, S., Ballentine, K., Engel, R., Kim, S., & Petracchi, H. (2022). Do wage increases help? Wage increases and material hardships among low-wage hospital workers. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2022.2036282

          Woo, J., Ballentine, K., Shook, J., Engel, R., & Goodkind, S. (2022). Material hardships, perceived stress, and health among low-wage hospital workers. Health and Social Work, 47(1), 19–27. https://doi.org/10.1093/hsw/hlab038

          Jihee Woo

          • School of Social Work
            Peters Hall
            1404 Gortner Ave
            Saint Paul, MN 55108-6160
             

          • wooxx110@umn.edu