Arne L. Beck, PhD

Senior Investigator

Arne L. Beck, PhD, is a Senior Investigator in the Institute for Health Research. His research focus is in mental health services and includes suicide prevention, web-based psychotherapies for prevention and treatment of depression and anxiety among general adult and perinatal populations, and collaborative care models for treatment of co-occurring medical and mental health conditions.

Dr. Beck completed his doctoral training in health psychology at the University of California, San Francisco, and has over 30 years' experience working in health and mental health care delivery systems. He is the Kaiser Permanente Colorado lead investigator for the Mental Health Research Network, a consortium of 14 research centers embedded in health care delivery systems funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Beck is also an Associate Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors for the Jefferson Center for Mental Health.

Selected Research:

  • Effectiveness of Task Shifting to Peer Delivery of Behavioral Activation for Depression among Pregnant Women
  • The objective of this study was to use a three-phase structure to develop web-based peer training and fidelity monitoring tools for behavioral activation and to evaluate the feasibility, tolerability, acceptability, safety, and preliminary effectiveness of peer-delivered behavioral activation within obstetric practice settings.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 07/31/2020

  • Pragmatic Trial of Population-based Programs to Prevent Suicide Attempt
  • The goal of this project was to conduct a large, pragmatic trial to examine two population-based programs to prevent suicide attempt. Participants were randomly assigned to continued usual care or usual care supplemented by one of the two prevention programs: an outreach and care management program (via secure messaging and telephone) including structured assessment linked to specific care pathways, or an online psycho-educational program focused on development of emotion regulation skills and prevention of suicidal behaviors, supported by coaching to promote engagement and adherence. The primary outcome was suicide attempt (fatal or non-fatal) during 18 months following enrollment, ascertained automatically from computerized health records.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 07/31/2020

  • Reducing Residual Depressive Symptoms with Web-Based Mindful Mood Balance
  • The major goal of this project was to conduct a pragmatic randomized clinical trial of the Mindful Mood Balance (MMB) web-based program to evaluate its effectiveness in reducing residual depressive symptoms (RDS) in recurrently depressed patients.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 06/30/2019

  • Mental Health Research Network III
  • This grant expands the existing Mental Health Research Network (MHRN) to include 14 research centers embedded in health systems serving a combined population of over 25 million patients in 16 states. MHRN infrastructure is being enhanced to support a next-generation practice-based network, including an Administrative Core, a Methods core, two Signature research projects and two Pilot research projects.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 06/30/2024

  • Mental Health Research Network III Signature Project 1: Accelerating Implementation of Mindful Mood Balance for Moms (MMB4Moms)
  • The goal of this pragmatic implementation-effectiveness trial is to test the effectiveness of an online Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy program in preventing perinatal depression, when supported by telephone coaches who are clinicians or peers with lived experience. A second goal is to test the impact of clinic-based implementation strategies on the reach of the program.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 06/30/2024

  • A Targeted Approach to Safer Use of Antipsychotics in Youth
  • The goal of this project was to conduct a 3 phase study in which we (1) developed a sequenced treatment algorithm and workflow to facilitate safer antipsychotic prescribing in youth aged 5-17 years with non-psychotic disorders; (2) conduct a pilot trial of the algorithm and workflow versus usual care; and (3) conduct a large scale pragmatic effectiveness trial of the algorithm and workflow versus usual care in six health systems across the US.

    • Funder: National Institute on Drug Abuse
    • Award End Date: 06/24/2021

  • An Evaluation of the National Zero Suicide Model (NZSM) Across Learning Healthcare Systems
  • This study sought to conduct a comprehensive process and outcome evaluation of NZSM implementation in real-world clinical settings across 6 large, diverse Mental Health Research Network-affiliated Learning Healthcare Systems providing healthcare for over 9 million individuals each year.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 06/30/2022

  • A Pragmatic Trial of Parent-focused Prevention in Pediatric Primary Care: Implementation and Patient Outcomes in Three Health Systems
  • The goal of this project is to assess the feasibility, acceptability, and health impact of delivering Guiding Good Choices, an evidence-based universal prevention program, to parents of 11-and 12-year old early adolescents within the network of primary care clinics associated with two large health care systems.

    • Funder: National Institutes of Health
    • Award End Date: 12/31/2022

  • Treatment Utilization before Suicide
  • This project used data from eight Mental Health Research Network affiliated health systems across the U.S. to investigate the association between non-psychiatric clinical factors, including medical diagnoses, medications, procedures, and types of visits and suicide risk.

    • Funder: National Institute of Mental Health
    • Award End Date: 05/31/2019