- Associate Professor
- Email: jlueck@tamu.edu
- Office: BLTN 209E
- Document: CV
Introduction
Dr. Jennifer Lueck's research focuses on evidence-based health promotion and behavior change, with particular emphasis on the interplay between cognition and emotion. Her work addresses critical public health issues such as mental illness and suicide risk/prevention, along with related comorbidities, including substance abuse. Dr. Lueck also explores the effects of media on health behaviors and the role of emerging technologies, such as eye-tracking, in understanding and influencing these behaviors.
Biography
Dr. Jennifer Lueck received her Ph.D. in Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota in 2016 and joined the Communication Department at Texas A&M University as an Assistant Professor the same year. Her research focuses on innovative health communication interventions aimed at individuals with disordered cognition, utilizing eye-tracking technology and ecological methods such as ecological momentary assessment. Dr. Lueck investigates how cognitive biases influence perceptions and beliefs about the world, the self, and the environment, creating and sustaining barriers to health behavior change. She explores the implications of these biases for developing tailored health communication interventions.
Dr. Lueck’s work examines the lived experiences of vulnerable populations, including adolescents and adults affected by depression, and their media usage patterns, such as social media and general news consumption. She uses these insights to design and test mediated health communication interventions, with a focus on outcomes like attention, interpretation, memory, and behavior change.
Dr. Lueck is the recipient of several grants, including the 2021 TAMU CRISS Grant, the 2020 TAMU COVID-19 Innovation Grant, and the 2019 TAMU T3 Grant. Her research is published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Health Communication, Health Communication, Social Science & Medicine, and Psychiatry Research. She has presented at national and international conferences, and her work has been featured by national news networks such as VOX and health organizations like the CDC. Her research on COVID-19 vaccination campaigns earned the top paper award from the International Communication Association’s Health Communication Division in 2021.
Courses Taught
- COMM 689: Mass Media and Health
- COMM 664: Media Processes and Effects
- COMM 470: Health Message Design
- COMM 450: Media Campaigns
- COMM 325: Persuasion
- COMM 203: Public Speaking
Research Interests
- Communication & Media Science
- Health Communication
Selected Publications
- Lueck, J. A., Callaghan, T., & Scherr, S. (2024). Suicidal ideation during the COVID-19 pandemic: Investigating mental health, COVID-19 health beliefs, and news media consumption in the United States population in the year 2020. OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying, 88(3), 1168-1180. https://doi.org/10.1177/00302228211062361
- Lueck, J. A., & Poe, M. (2023). Werther or Papageno? Examining the effects of news reports of celebrity suicide versus non-celebrity peer suicide on intentions to seek help among vulnerable young adults. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 53, 1038–1054. https://doi.org/10.1111/sltb.13004
- Lueck, J. A., & Spiers, A. (2020). Which beliefs predict intention to get vaccinated against COVID-19? A mixed-methods reasoned action approach applied to health communication. Journal of Health Communication, 25(10), 790–798. https://doi.org/10.1080/10810730.2020.1865488
- Lueck, J., & Callaghan, T. (2022). Inside the ‘black box’ of COVID-19 vaccination attitudes: Revealing the relative importance of trust and news consumption habits. Social Science & Medicine, 298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114874
- Lueck, J. (2021). Help-seeking intentions in the U.S. population during COVID-19: Examining the role of COVID-19 financial hardship, suicide risk, and stigma. Psychiatry Research, 303, 114069. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2021.114069