Kelly Tenzek

PhD

Kelly Tenzek.

Kelly Tenzek

PhD

Kelly Tenzek

PhD

Research Topics

Difficult conversations in interpersonal and health contexts, primarily end-of-life communication

Overview Background Publications

Awards

  • 2023-2024, CO-PI, Planning an educational intervention using Team Alice videos: A community collaboration with Mobile Primary Care for medication harm prevention and safety. USDeN. Monte, S., Tenzek, K. E., Wahler, R. Singh, R., Stoll, J., Wahler, A., Kueker, M. & Lattimer, T. A. ($5000.00).
  • 2018, Collaborator, Photographs of meaning: A social media intervention for caregivers of seriously ill children. Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Legacy Fund. Palliative Care Institute research team, Depner, R. M., Grant, C. P., Levy, K., & Tenzek, K. E. *Authors in alphabetical order. ($11,384.00).
  • 2017, Collaborator, Meaning-making in young adult cancer patients through social media and “talking pictures” Roswell Park Cancer Institute Alliance Foundation. (Principal Investigator, Lynda Beaupin),Roswell Park Cancer Institute. ($50,000).
  • National Survey of Religious Leaders (NSRL) Award. Early access to data and $2000.00 Honorarium (2023).
  • Top Paper Award, National Communication Association (2022, November). Communication as Social Construction Division, New Orleans, LA.
  • Top Paper Panel, National Communication Association (2022, November). Communication and Aging Division, New Orleans, LA.
  • Top Paper Panel, National Communication Association (2017, November). SoTL Division. Dallas, Tx.

Publications

Weinschreider, J. Tenzek, K. E., Foltz-Ramos, K., Jungquist, C., Livingston, J. (2023). Electronic health record competency in graduate nurses: A grounded theory study, Nursing Education Today.

Scheinfeld, E., Tenzek, K. E., Cherry, J. (2023). Survivors’ perspectives on saying goodbye: Implications for a good death and grieving process. Death Studies.

Lattimer, T. A., Tenzek, K. E., & Ophir, Y. (2023). Shouts from the void: A mixed-method analysis surrounding the online chronic illness community, #NEISVoid. Health Communication.

Tenzek, K. E., Lapan, E., Ophir, Y., & Lattimer, T. A.  (2023). Staying connected: Alzheimer’s hashtags and opportunities for engagement and overcoming stigma. Journal of Aging Studies.

Tenzek K. E., Lattimer, T. A., Heneveld, K., Lapan, E., Neurohr, M., & Gillis, S. (2023). Mediated depictions of mental health, chronic care, and literacy: A narrative analysis of Randall’s mental health journey in the television series, This is Us. Frontiers in Psychiatry. 

Tenzek, K. E., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M., Levy, K., & Byrwa, D. J. (2022). Clinician communication in hospice: Constructions of reality throughout the end-of-Life process. Omega (Amityville, N.Y. Online). 
 https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228221116719  

Lattimer, T. A., Tenzek, K. E., Ophir, Y., Sullivan, S. S. (2022). Exploring web-based Twitter conversations surrounding National Healthcare Decisions Day and advance care planning from a sociocultural perspective: Computational mixed methods Analysis. Journal of Medical Internet Research, Formative Research, 6(4),e35795 doi: 10.2196/35795 

Striley, K., Tenzek, K. E., & Field-Springer, K. (2022). Difficult dialogues about death: An application of risk orders theory to chaplains providing care at end-of-life. Health, Risk & Society, 24 (3-4), 167-185. 

Nickels, B., Tenzek, K. E., & Lattimer, T. (2021). This is Us: An analysis of mediated end-of-life family communication. Journal of death and dying. 3022282110363-302228211036307. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211036307  

Depner, R. M., Grant, P. C., Byrwa, D. J. LeFevre, S. M., Kerr, C. W., Tenzek, K. ,…& Levy, K. (2020). A consensual qualitative research analysis of the end-of-life dream and vision experiences of people enrolled in hospice homecare. Palliative Medicine Reports.

Levy, K., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M., Tenzek, K. E., Beaupin, L. K. Pailler, M. E. & Brewer-Spritzer, E. (2020). The photographs of meaning program for pediatric palliative caregivers and its impact on meaning, well-being, and perceived social support. Palliative Medicine Reports, 1, 84-91. DOI: 10.1089/pmr.2020.0046

Pailler, M. E., Beaupin, L. K., Brewer-Spritzer, E., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M.,…& 2020). Reaching adolescent and young adult cancer patients through social media: Impact of the photographs of meaning program. Journal of Adolescent and Young Adult Oncology. Available online https://doi.org/10.1089/jayao.2019.0140  

Levy, K., Grant, P. C., Tenzek, K. E., Depner, R. M., Pailler, M. E. & Beaupin, L. K. The experience of pediatric palliative caregiving: A qualitative analysis  from photographs of meaning program, American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. 37(5), 364-370. https://doi.org/10.1177/1049909119879413  

Grant, P.C., Depner, R.M., Levy, K., LaFever, S.M., Tenzek, K., Wright, S.T. & Kerr, C.W. (2020). Family caregiver perspectives on end-of-life dreams and visions during bereavement: A mixed methods approach. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 1-7. DOI: 10.1089/jpm.2019.0093

Pederson, J. R., Tenzek, K. E., Kloeber, D., Striley, K., & Bender, J. (2019). Social rejection experiences among first-year college students​. Iowa Journal of Communication, 51, 253-282.

Levy, K., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M., Tenzek, K. E., Pailler, M. E., Beaupin, L. K…& Byrwa, D. J. (2019). The photographs of meaning program for pediatric palliative caregivers (POM-PPCG): Feasibility of a novel meaning-making intervention. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 7, 557-563. DOI:10.1177/1049909118824560  

Beaupin , L. K., Pailler, M. E., Brewer-Spritzer, E., Kishel, E., Grant, P. C., Depner, R. M., Tenzek, K. E., & Breier, J. M. (2018).  Photographs of meaning: A novel social media intervention for adolescent and young adult cancer patients. Psycho-Oncology. DOI: 10.1002/pon.4896

May, A., & Tenzek, K. E. (2018).  Bullying in the academy: Understanding the student bully and the targeted “stupid, fat, mother fucker” professor. Teaching in Higher Education.  Available online. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2017.1379482

Tenzek, K. E. & Depner, R. M. (2017). Still searching: A meta-synthesis of a good death from the family perspective. Special issue family communication at the end-of-life. Behavioral Sciences, 7. Available online, 
http://www.mdpi.com/2076-328X/7/2/25 doi:10.3390/bs7020025 *published with graduate student.

Tenzek, K. E., & Nickels, B. (2017). End-of-Life (EOL) in Disney and Pixar films: An opportunity for engaging in difficult conversation. Omega: Journal of Death and . Available online, https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222817726258 *published with graduate student.

Herrman, A. R., & Tenzek, K. E. (2017). Communication privacy management: A thematic analysis of revealing and concealing eating disorders in an online community. Qualitative Research Reports. Available online, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17459435.2017.1294617

May, A., & Tenzek, K. E. (2016). "A gift we are unable to create ourselves": Surrogacy and the journey to parenthood for gay men. Journal of LGBT Family Studies. Available online, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1550428X.2015.1128860

Book contributions

Cramer, E.M., Tenzek, K.E., Allen, M. (2015). Spirituality, social support, and the communicative role of the chaplain in veteran populations. In L.M. Webb & E. Sahlstein (Eds.), A communication perspective on the military: Interactions, messages, and discourses. Peter Lang International. 

Beck, C. S., Aubuchon, S., Simmons, N., Tenzek, K. E., & Ruhl, S., (2015). Celebrity health narratives and the public health. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers.

Nickels, B. & Tenzek, K. (2022). Family Communication at End-of-Life: Research and strategies for presence and engagement. In Lurrs, G. M. (Ed.),Handbook of Research on Communication Strategies for Taboo Topics. (pp. 241-260. PA, Information Science Reference.

Mackenzie, L. & Tenzek, K. E. (2018). Cultural variation in end-of-life conversations: Using CuDA as a tool to analyze case studies designed for professional military education. In M. Scollo & T. Milburn (Eds.), Engaging and Transforming Global Communication through Cultural Discourse Analysis: A Tribute to Donal Carbaugh. Farleigh Dickinson University Press.