Ben Balderson, PhD
“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
Benjamin.H.Balderson@kp.org
206-287-2803
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
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Behavior Change
Self-management support; treatment adherence; health behavior change; motivational interviewing; problem-solving therapy; cognitive behavioral therapy
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Chronic Illness Management
Chronic pain; insomnia; treatment adherence; HIV management and PrEP; self-management support
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Complementary & Integrative Health
Chronic pain
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Dementia Prevention
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Health Psychology
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Recent publications
McCurry SM, Shortreed SM, Von Korff M, Balderson BH, Baker LD, Rybarczyk BD, Vitiello MV. Who benefits from CBT for insomnia in primary care? Important patient selection and trial design lessons from longitudinal results of the Lifestyles trial. Sleep. 2014 Feb 1;37(2):299-308. doi: 10.5665/sleep.3402. PubMed
Vitiello MV, McCurry SM, Shortreed SM, Balderson BH, Baker LD, Keefe FJ, Rybarczyk BD, Von Korff M. Cognitive-behavioral treatment for comorbid insomnia and osteoarthritis pain in primary care: the Lifestyles Randomized Controlled Trial. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2013;61(6):947-56. doi: 10.1111/jgs.12275. Epub 2013 May 27. PubMed
Balderson BH, Grothaus L, Harrison RG, McCoy K, Mahoney C, Catz S. Chronic illness burden and quality of life in an aging HIV population. AIDS Care. 2013;25(4):451-8. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2012.712669. Epub 2012 Aug 15. 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
Catz SL, Thibodeau L, Bluespruce J, Yard SS, Seal DW, Amico KR, Bogart LM, Mahoney C, Balderson BH, Sosman JM. Prevention needs of HIV-positive men and women awaiting release from prison. AIDS Behav. 2012 Jan;16(1):108-20. PubMed
McCurry SM, Von Korff M, Vitiello MV, Saunders K, Balderson BH, Moore AL, Rybarczyk BD. Frequency of comorbid insomnia, pain, and depression in older adults with osteoarthritis: predictors of enrollment in a randomized treatment trial. J Psychosom Res. 2011;71(5):296-9. Epub 2011 Jul 1. PubMed
Levine MD, Ross TR, Balderson BH, Phelan EA. Implementing group medical visits for older adults at Group Health Cooperative. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2010 Jan;58(1):168-72. Epub 2009 Dec 9. PubMed
Phelan EA, Balderson B, Levine M, Erro JH, Jordan L, Grothaus L, Sandhu N, Perrault PJ, Logerfo JP, Wagner EH. Delivering effective primary care to older adults: a randomized, controlled trial of the senior resource team at Group Health Cooperative. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2007;55(11):1748-56. PubMed
Levine M, Phelan EA, Balderson BHK, Wagner EH. Collaborative treatment planning for older patients in primary care. Generations. 2006;30(3):83-5.
Von Korff M, Balderson BH, Saunders K, Miglioretti DL, Lin EH, Berry S, Moore JE, Turner JA. A trial of an activating intervention for chronic back pain in primary care and physical therapy settings. Pain. 2005;113(3):323-30. PubMed
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