Cheryl Tatano Beck

DNSc, CNM, FAAN

Board of Trustees Distinguished Professor

Joint Appointment in School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology

She/Her/Hers

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Postpartum depression and posttraumatic stress disorder due to traumatic childbirth are the two arms of Dr. Beck’s research program. Based on the findings from her series of qualitative studies, Dr. Beck developed the Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS) and authored many of the seminal works in the field, from her more than 165 journal articles. She also authored numerous books, including the preeminent research methods textbooks for undergraduate and graduate nursing education, e.g. Essentials of Nursing Research. She was awarded Book of the Year from the American Journal of Nursing multiple times, including for Nursing Research: Generating and Assessing Evidence for Nursing Practice and Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders: A Clinician’s Guide. She has also published these additional books: Traumatic Childbirth, Secondary Qualitative Data Analysis, and Phenomenology: Focus on Methodology. The focus of her teaching is on nursing research methods. She teaches qualitative and mixed methods research in the Ph.D. program and also in the undergraduate nursing program. Dr. Beck is an associate editor for qualitative methods for the Journal of Obstetrics, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing (JOGNN). She has received the Distinguished Professional Service Award from the Association of Women’s Health, Obstetric, and Neonatal Nursing. For her service she has also received The Jane Honikman Award for outstanding contribution to emotional health related to childbearing from Postpartum Support International.

Research/Scholarship Interests

• Perinatal mood and anxiety disorders
• Postpartum depression
• Traumatic birth
• PTSD due to birth trauma
• Secondary traumatic stress

Education

• DNSc, Boston University, Nursing, 1982
• CNM, Yale University, Nurse-Midwifery, 1972
• MSN, Yale University, Maternal-Newborn Nursing, 1972
• BSN, Western Connecticut State University, Nursing, 1970

Honors & Awards

2020 – Marcé Medal awarded by the International Marcé Society for Perinatal Mental Health

2019 – Inducted into Sigma Theta Tau International Nurse Researcher Hall of Fame

2014 – Mary Jane Williams Lifetime Achievement Award, Connecticut Nurses Association

2013 – Sustained & Influential Leader, Eastern Nursing Research Society

2013 – 90 Nurses for 90 Years, Yale University School of Nursing

Selected Publications

Curriculum Vitae