Kevin John was born in Orlando, Florida and then moved at a very young age to Alexandria, Virginia where he grew up. He received his bachelor’s degree at BYU in 2007, emphasizing in public relations. He also spent a great deal of time in the School of Communication’s BioComms Lab, under the instruction of Dr. Steven Thomsen. After an internship in Washington, D.C., Kevin returned to BYU to continue his education. He received his master’s degree in mass communication in 2009, and resumed the work he had started in the BioComms Lab. In 2011, Kevin was invited to return to the School to serve as Director of the BioComms Lab, and as an Adjunct Instructor.
After earning his masters degree, Kevin worked for Salt Lake City-based Waterford Institute as a Public Relations Coordinator. In 2015, he completed his PhD at the University of Utah, under Dr. Jakob D. Jensen, with an emphasis on health communication and applied statistics. During his stay up north, he spent a great deal of time in cross-disciplinary studies with the College of Nursing, working as a project coordinator for an NIH-funded R01 grant (P01CA138317) entitled Enhancing End-of-Life and Bereavement Outcomes among Cancer Caregivers – Partners in Hospice Care.
Kevin’s primary research line is in health communication, often employing psychophysiological measures in his studies. Specifically, he has worked on projects enhancing skin self-examination training for individuals at risk for melanoma, optimizing alcohol warning messages for adolescents, and elucidating the challenges inherent in media coverage of health and science topics. In addition, Kevin is interested in media effects research, and the links between media consumption and emotional development and response.
In his free time, Kevin enjoys video games (they keep him young), photography, target shooting, listening to loud music, and working on his car. He currently lives in Lehi, UT with his wife, Hillery, and their 4 children.
Publications
Jensen, J. D., Pokharel, M., King, A. J., John, K. K., Wu, Y. P., & Grossman, D. (2020). Obstacles to skin self-examination: Are frontier adults inclined abstainers? Psychology, Health and Medicine, 25(4), 470-479.
Jensen, J. D., Pokharel, M., Carcioppolo, N., Upshaw, S., John, K. K., & Katz, R. A. (2020). Cancer information overload: Discriminant validity and relationship to sun safe behavior. Patient Education and Counseling, 103(2), 309-314.
Pokharel, M., Christy, K. R., Jensen, J. D., Giorgi, E., John, K. K., & Wu, Y. P. (2019). Do ultraviolet photos increase sun safe behavior via fear? A randomized controlled trial in a sample of U.S. adults. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 42(3), 401-422.
King, A. J., Bol, N., Cummins, R. G, & John, K. K. (2019). Improving visual behavior research in communication science: An overview, review, and reporting recommendations for using eye-tracking methods. Communication Methods and Measures, 13(3), 149-177.
Jensen, J. D., John, K. K., Freeman, J. R., Carcioppolo, N. (2019). Drink monitoring for self and others: Precollege drinkers and the bad-habit-formation hypothesis. Addiction Research and Theory, 27(3), 198-203.
Carcioppolo, N., John, K. K., Jensen, J. D., King, A. J., & Guntzviller, L. M. (2019). Joking about cancer as an avoidance strategy among US adults. Health Promotion International, 34(3), 420-428.
Pokharel, M., Jensen, J. D., John, K. K., & Christy. K. R. (2019). Visual communication & skin cancer prevention: A message experiment comparing personalized, stock, & non-ultraviolet images. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 53(??), S602-S602.
John, K. K., Jensen, J. D., King, A. J., Pokharel, M., & Grossman, D. (2018). Emerging applications of eye-tracking technology in dermatology. Journal of Dermatological Science, 91(2), 117-123.
Terrill, A. L., Ellington, L., John, K. K., Latimer, S., Xu, J., Reblin, M., & Clayton, M. F. (2018). Positive emotion communication: Fostering well-being at end of life. Patient Education and Counseling, 101(4), 631-638.
John, K. K., Jensen, J. D., King, A. J., Ratcliff, C. L., & Grossman, D. (2017). Do Pattern-Focused Visuals Improve Skin Self-Examination Performance? Explicating the Visual Skill Acquisition Model (VSAM). Journal of Health Communication, 22(9), 732-742.
Jensen, J. D., Yale, R. N., Krakow, M., John, K. K., & King, A. J. (2017). Theorizing foreshadowed death narratives: Examining the impact of character death on narrative processing and SSE intentions. Journal of Health Communication, 22(1), 84-93.
Carcioppolo, N., Chen, Y., John, K. K., Gonzalez, A. M., King, A. J., Morgan, S. E., & Hu, S. (2017). The development and validation of the mood-based indoor tanning scale. American Journal of Health Behavior, 41(1), 42-51.
Jensen, J. D., Liu, M., Carcioppolo, N., John, K. K., Krakow, M., & Sun, Y. (2017). Health information seeking and scanning among U.S. adults 50-75: Testing a key postulate of the information overload model. Health Informatics Journal, 23(2) 1-13.
John, K. K. (2016). The Volkswagen lifestyle: Hitler, hippies, and a hint of viral marketing. Americana: The Journal of American Popular Culture, 1900 to Present, 15(2).
Jensen, J. D., Christy, K., Krakow, M., John, K. K., & Martins, N. (2016). Narrative transportability, leisure reading, and genre preference in children 9-13. The Journal of Educational Research, 109(6), 666-674.
Sun, Y., Krakow, M., John, K. K., Liu, M., Weaver, J. (2016). Framing obesity: How news frames shape attributions and behavioral responses. Journal of Health Communication, 21(2), 139-147.
Reblin, M., Clayton, M. F., John, K. K., & Ellington, L. (2016). Addressing methodological challenges in large communication datasets: Collecting and coding longitudinal interactions in home hospice cancer care. Health Communication, 31(7), 789-797.
Jensen, J. D., Yale, R. N., Carcioppolo, N., Krakow, M. M., John, K. K., & Weaver, J. (2015). Confirming the two factor model of dispositional cancer worry. Psycho-oncology, 24(6), 732-735.
King, A. J., Carcioppolo, N., Grossman, D., John, K. K., & Jensen, J. D. (2015). A randomised test of printed educational materials about melanoma detection: Varying skin self-examination technique and visual image dose. Health Education Journal, 74(6), 732-742.
Jensen, J. D., Krakow, M., John, K. K., & Liu, M. (2013). Against conventional wisdom: When the public, media, and practice collide. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making, 13(3), 1.
Peterson, E. B., Thomsen, S., Lindsay, G., & John, K. K. (2010). Adolescents’ attention to traditional and graphic tobacco warning labels: An eye-tracking approach. Journal of Drug Education, 40(3), 227–244.