Kate Okker-Edging

Kate Okker-Edging’s research focuses on how social media and digital technologies promote health equity and well-being, with a particular focus on improving mental health outcomes among young people.

Kate Okker-Edging is a doctoral candidate at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Utilizing a mixed-methods approach, her dissertation research 1) examines how online communities and social media influencers promote joy among LGBTQ+ youth and young adults and 2) seeks to develop and evaluate joy-centered mental health messaging for this population. Beyond the dissertation, her work explores the role of digital mental health interventions such as AI chatbots and the 988 Lifeline in addressing the mental health needs of young people. 

Okker-Edging received an M.P.H. and an M.A. in Journalism (concentration in Strategic Communication) from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has a B.A. in International Relations and Arabic from Tufts University. Prior to Annenberg, she worked as a researcher at Fors Marsh, where she conducted research on public health campaigns.