Cynthia A. Beck

My research is in the areas of health services, particularly for persons with mental disorders, and psychiatric epidemiology. At present I am in the analysis stage of my PhD project through which I am examining the receipt of preventive health services among adults with major mental disorders. In terms of clinical research, I have revceived funding to study the use of motivational interviewing for treatment of cannabis use among individuals with first episode psychosis. I also have an interest in the use of administrative data to access information on health services, and have been involved in cardiac revascularization among individuals with and without substance use disorders, the contruction of a risk adjustment model for outcomes of an early psychosis program (as coinvestigator), and the effect of shadow billing on the completeness and validity of administrative data (as coinvestigator). My work also includes the use of survey data (eg. Statistics Canada surveys) to analyze patterns of health services use in epidemiology (eg. depression, multiple sclerosis).

Regarding education, I am currently working as the fellowship coordinator for the Department of Psychiatry. This is a new position and we currently have few fellows. However, the position will be growing in scope as the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons is expected to require fellowships for cetain subspecialties of psychiatry shortly. My other educational involvement is as part of the Residency Training Committee and in direct teaching of psychiatric residents both clinically and on critical appraisal.