Donald H. Baucom
Encyclopedia
Donald H. Baucom, Ph.D.
(born July 22, 1949) is a clinical psychology faculty member at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is recognized for founding the field of Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy
Baucom is also recognized as one of the top marital therapists and most prolific researchers in this field. Currently, Baucom's National Cancer Institute
funded study, CanThrive, has the largest observationally coded sample of any couples study to date.
where he is the Richard Lee Simpson Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UNC
. He is a familiar face on campus, having received both his bachelor's degree
and his Ph.D.
from UNC. Baucom's son Brian is also a Clinical Psychologist. Brian works in southern California where he received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles
.
.
Social Support: Baucom has been interested in the ways by which social support styles contribute to both positive and negative functioning during the course of a relationship.
Health: Baucom has studied the ways in which physiological/psychological health can become stressors in a dyad that can contribute to distress. For example, he has developed intervention studies based on the effects of anorexia, cancer, smoking, and arthritis with regards to couples functioning.
Infidelity: This area is of particular interest to Baucom due to the severity of the direct distress it causes to the relationship. He has collaborated with his colleagues to develop a self-help book for partners experiencing infidelity, and is in the process of creating a training manual to guide practitioners in the aid of couples dealing with infidelity.
called CanThrive. This is a couple-based intervention focused on partnerships in which the female has breast cancer. This study observes and measures various aspects of communicated social support between both partners, and is interested in finding possible relationships between differences in social support and treatment outcomes for breast cancer. This study has the largest observationally coded sample of any couples study to date, and is based at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
and Duke University
. Additionally, he is collaborating with colleagues conducting a similar study in Germany
.
Academic Journals
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
(born July 22, 1949) is a clinical psychology faculty member at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He is recognized for founding the field of Cognitive-Behavioral Couples Therapy
Relationship counseling
Relationship counseling is the process of counseling the parties of a relationship in an effort to recognize and to better manage or reconcile troublesome differences and repeating patterns of distress...
Baucom is also recognized as one of the top marital therapists and most prolific researchers in this field. Currently, Baucom's National Cancer Institute
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
funded study, CanThrive, has the largest observationally coded sample of any couples study to date.
Biography
Baucom lives in Chapel Hill, North CarolinaChapel Hill, North Carolina
Chapel Hill is a town in Orange County, North Carolina, United States and the home of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and UNC Health Care...
where he is the Richard Lee Simpson Distinguished Professor of Psychology at UNC
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
. He is a familiar face on campus, having received both his bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
and his Ph.D.
Ph.D.
A Ph.D. is a Doctor of Philosophy, an academic degree.Ph.D. may also refer to:* Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*Piled Higher and Deeper, a web comic strip*PhD: Phantasy Degree, a Korean comic series* PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
from UNC. Baucom's son Brian is also a Clinical Psychologist. Brian works in southern California where he received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
.
Research description
For over thirty years, Donald H. Baucom has focused his research on the dynamics of intimate relationships and how various factors contribute to distress, as well as joy, in couples. As a strong proponent of the scientist-practitioner model he is committed to the development of empirically based effective interventions for partners in intimate relationships. In doing so, he has been a leader in the development of the theoretical, empirical, and clinical foundation of cognitive-behavioral therapy that is used for helping couples in distress. Baucom has spent his career observing the ways in which couples interact, and how these individual interaction styles can cause both distress and joy in relationships based on factors such as social support, health, and infidelityInfidelity
In many intimate relationships in many cultures there is usually an express or implied expectation of exclusivity, especially in sexual matters. Infidelity most commonly refers to a breach of the expectation of sexual exclusivity.Infidelity can occur in relation to physical intimacy and/or...
.
Social Support: Baucom has been interested in the ways by which social support styles contribute to both positive and negative functioning during the course of a relationship.
Health: Baucom has studied the ways in which physiological/psychological health can become stressors in a dyad that can contribute to distress. For example, he has developed intervention studies based on the effects of anorexia, cancer, smoking, and arthritis with regards to couples functioning.
Infidelity: This area is of particular interest to Baucom due to the severity of the direct distress it causes to the relationship. He has collaborated with his colleagues to develop a self-help book for partners experiencing infidelity, and is in the process of creating a training manual to guide practitioners in the aid of couples dealing with infidelity.
CanThrive
Currently, Baucom is working on a large-scale treatment study funded by the National Cancer InstituteNational Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute is part of the National Institutes of Health , which is one of 11 agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The NCI coordinates the U.S...
called CanThrive. This is a couple-based intervention focused on partnerships in which the female has breast cancer. This study observes and measures various aspects of communicated social support between both partners, and is interested in finding possible relationships between differences in social support and treatment outcomes for breast cancer. This study has the largest observationally coded sample of any couples study to date, and is based at both the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is a public research university located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States...
and Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
. Additionally, he is collaborating with colleagues conducting a similar study in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Selected works and publications
BooksAcademic Journals
- Sher, T. G. & Baucom, D. H. (1993). Marital communication: Differences among maritally distressed, depressed, and nondistressed-nondepressed couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 7(1), 148-153.
- Sayers, S. L.; Baucom, D. H.; Sher, T. G.; Weiss, R. L.; et al. (1991). Constructive engagement, behavioral marital therapy, and changes in marital satisfaction. Behavioral Assessment, 13(1), 25-49.
- Sher, T. G. & Weiss, R. L. (1991) Negativity in marital communication: Where's the beef? Behavioral Assessment, 13(1), 1-5.
- Sher, T. G.; Baucom, D. H.; & Larus, J. M.(1990). Communication patterns and response to treatment among depressed and nondepressed maritally distressed couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 4(1), 63-79.