Ben Balderson, PhD

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“I'm dedicated to meeting the health care needs of people who have complex, chronic conditions and to help them develop lifelong skills for managing their health.”

Ben Balderson, PhD

Senior Collaborative Scientist, Kaiser Permanente Washington Health Research Institute
Psychologist, Washington Permanente Medical Group

Biography

Ben Balderson, PhD, is a clinical psychologist with specialties in adult behavior medicine and health psychology. He has expertise in behavioral and cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, and treatment adherence for chronic diseases—especially chronic pain, insomnia, and HIV/PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, which is using medication to prevent HIV infection in individuals with high risk.

Dr. Balderson is interested in improving self-management for chronic health conditions and understanding how these conditions intersect with psychological health. His research has largely focused on developing and testing interventions to improve self-management for chronic pain, with a strong interest in marginalized or difficult-to-reach populations. He is also interested in telehealth and the use of technology—such as the internet and smartphones—to facilitate care.

A practicing psychologist at Kaiser Permanente Washington, Dr. Balderson provides care for adult patients and specializes in behavioral medicine, for example for chronic pain, insomnia, HIV, and gender care. He also specializes in treatment of anxiety disorders, for example, generalized anxiety disorder; PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder; phobias; and OCD, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. He has a strong interest in translation work, bringing empirically supported treatments to the frontlines of clinical care. Dr. Balderson also has extensive experience in provider training—particularly in ways clinicians can interact with patients to increase behavior change.

Dr. Balderson serves as a peer reviewer for several journals in the areas of pain and HIV and is an avid participant in Kaiser Permanente Washington committees and initiatives related to improving behavioral health care.

Research interests and experience

  • Health Psychology

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Recent publications

Balderson, BHK, Lin EHB, Von Korff M. The management of pain-related fear in primary care. In: Understanding and Treating Fear of Pain. Vlaeyen GWS, Asmundson G, Crombez G (Eds). Oxford Press, 2004. PubMed

Mullins LL, Hartman VL, Chaney JM, Balderson BH, Hoff AL. Training experiences and theoretical orientations of pediatric psychologists. J Pediatr Psychol. 2003;28(2):115-22. PubMed

Cote MP, Mullins LL, Hartman V, Hoff A, Balderson BHK, Chaney J, Domek D. Psychosocial correlates of health care utilization:children and adolescents with Type 1 diabetes mellitus. Children's Health Care. 2003;32(1):1-16. PubMed

Balderson BHK, Von Korff M. The stepped care approach to chronic back pain. In: New Avenues for the Prevention of Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Disability: Pain Research and Clinical Management, Vol 12. SJ Linton (Ed) Amsterdam, Elsevier, 2002, pp 237-243. PubMed

Mullins LL, Balderson BHK, Chaney JM. Implementing team approaches in primary and tertiary care settings: applications from the rehabilitation context. Families, Systems and Health. 1999;17:487-500. PubMed

Von Korff M, Vitiello MV, McCurry SM, Balderson BH, Moore AL, Baker LD, Yarbro P, Saunders K, Keefe FJ, Rybarczyk BD. Group interventions for co-morbid insomnia and osteoarthritis pain in primary care: the lifestyles cluster randomized trial design. Contemp Clin Trials. 2012 Jul;33(4):759-68. Epub 2012 Mar 30. PubMed

 

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