Our Mission

The School of Letters and Sciences’ Doctor of Behavioral Health program will transform medical care by preparing behavioral care providers to provide evidence-based, cost-effective focused behavioral interventions for the many patients with behavioral conditions in primary care and medical settings who currently receive treatment that results in undercare, overcare, or misuse. This innovative approach has been proven to provide effective quality and outcomes of care and reduce medical and behavioral care utilization and cost.

Objectives

At the completion of the DBH program, the graduate will be able to:

• Understand health-care economics since integrated care delivery systems are driven and shaped by economic forces.
• Understand basic business principles to understand and create a financially viable model of care and increased earnings potential.
• Demonstrate proficiency in an integrated care skill set that is atypical of traditional graduate doctoral degree programs. Examples include: medical literacy, consultation liaison with medical and behavioral problems, behavioral medicine, population screening and management, stepped care, group interventions and the use of internet tools to facilitate patient behavior change.
• Understanding of neurology, clinical medicine, medical psychology, and health-care terminology necessary to navigate the health system.
• Understand the scientific method as it applies to behavioral research as an intelligent consumer of science.

Our Core Values

• Commitment to transformation of the health-care system by proving that behavioral primary care focused, targeted care result in decreased medical and behavioral utilization and cost.
• Commitment to improving the value proposition for health-care consumers by providing care that combines effective clinical outcomes, efficient use of resources, and convenience of co-location in the primary care setting.
• Relying on “clinical” (adjunct, part-time) faculty teaching one or two courses in their areas of expertise, with the imperative that faculty are making their living (actually doing) what they are teaching.
• Commitment to “hands-on” clinical practicum experience integrated behavioral/primary care setting.
• Creating skilled clinicians who are intelligent consumers of science with the ability to keep abreast and incorporate evidence-based practice guidelines into their practices.
• Providing a program that appeals to our students’ financial concerns by replacing the traditional dissertation with a more appropriate final culminating project and ensuring that students move in unison through the program to graduation.
• Providing a clear understanding of health-care economics, trends, and business skills so that our graduates are able to monitor and enhance their practice to continuously improve their earnings potential, especially relative to their peers in traditional graduate programs.

Vision

To establish the ASU DBH program as a top-tier, nationally/internationally-renowned college by 2011, known for its local, national, and global leadership in integrated behavioral care.