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Dwain Fehon, PsyD

Professor of Psychiatry
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Additional Titles

Chief Psychologist, Psychiatric Services, Yale New Haven Hospital

Director, Behavioral Medicine Service

Contact Info

dwain.fehon@yale.edu
203.688.9779

Psychiatry

Yale-New Haven Hospital, 20 York Street, Fitkin 610

New Haven, CT 06510

United States

About

Titles

Professor of Psychiatry

Chief Psychologist, Psychiatric Services, Yale New Haven Hospital; Director, Behavioral Medicine Service

Biography

Dr. Fehon is a Professor within the Department of Psychiatry and a member of the Medical Staff at Yale New Haven Hospital. As Chief Psychologist for Psychiatric Services, Dr. Fehon oversees and coordinates the predoctoral psychology training program within Yale New Haven Hospital and Yale New Haven Psychiatric Hospital. Since completing his internship and postdoctoral training at Yale in 1993, Dr. Fehon has devoted his career to psychology training and the development of hospital-based programs for adolescents, families, and adults. He is the founding director of the Behavioral Medicine Service, a clinical service that provides integrated psychological services to chronically ill adults within the Yale Cancer Center/Smilow Cancer Hospital, Tobacco Treatment Service, Yale New Haven Hospital Transplantation Center, Yale Sleep Center and Yale Spine Center. As a member of the Yale Cancer Center's palliative care services, Dr. Fehon provides integrated psychological care to aid coping, resilience and quality of life with patients living with advanced cancer.

Dr. Fehon’s current academic interests relate to understanding psychological, behavioral, and neuropsychiatric comorbidities among patients facing serious, chronic, and life threatening illnesses. He is interested in the utilization of qualitative and qualitative research methods to understand the phenomenological aspects of living with serious illness, and he is interested the development of novel psychotherapies to reduce the risk of adverse stress-related symptoms such as drug and alcohol abuse, depression, anxiety and PTSD in vulnerable medically ill patient populations.

Last Updated on February 08, 2024.

Appointments

Other Departments & Organizations

Education & Training

Postdoctoral Fellowship
Yale University School of Medicine (1993)
PsyD
University of Hartford (1992)
Predoctoral Fellowship
Yale University School of Medicine (1992)

Research

Overview

Demoralization in cancer patients receiving palliative care. The specific aim of this research is to study the relationship between demoralization and certain other variables, such as spiritual well-being, sense of meaning, purpose in life, and overall quality of life in patients receiving palliative care. The long-term objective of this research is to contribute to the personalization of palliative care by designing an algorithm for evidence-based selection of psychotherapeutic interventions tailored to meet the needs of individual patients and aimed at countering demoralization, suicidal ideation or requests for hastened death. This study is ongoing and currently recruiting subjects (Primary Investigator: Dr. Dwain Fehon).

Psychiatric, psychological, and behavioral correlates in patients with end-stage liver disease awaiting organ transplantation. This exploratory study recruited and assessed 125 waitlisted liver transplant candidates using self-report measures of emotional adjustment and quality of life (Dr. Dwain Fehon, Primary Investigator).

Liver SMART: A Stress Management and Relaxation Training Intervention for Liver Transplant Candidates. This is a Stage 1A treatment development study examined the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of an 8-session group cognitive-behavioral stress management intervention for liver transplant candidates (Dr. Dwain Fehon, Primary Investigator).

Text Messaging to Reduce Alcohol Relapse in Liver Transplant Patients. This study was an 8-week, randomized controlled pilot trial to investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a text-messaging intervention for alcohol relapse prevention and stress reduction in 20 liver transplant patients with alcohol-related liver disease (Dr. Benjamin Toll, Primary Investigator; Dr. Dwain Fehon, Co-investigator).

Development of the Yale Liver Transplant Psychosocial Risk Scale (YLTRS). This study developed and performed an initial validation of a brief, evidence-based, clinician administered scale to assess level of psychosocial risk among liver transplant candidates (Dr. Dwain Fehon, Primary Investigator).

Medical Research Interests

Alcoholism; Anxiety; Behavioral Medicine; Depression; Quality of Life; Resilience, Psychological; Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Dwain Fehon's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

2022

2018

2016

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Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

Activities

  • activity

    American Psychosocial Oncology Society (APOS)

    12/01/2017 - PresentProfessional OrganizationsCommittee Member
  • activity

    International Psychosocial Oncology Society (IPOS), Palliative Care SIG Education Committee

    2021 - PresentProfessional OrganizationsChair
  • activity

    Council of Clinical Health Psychology Training Programs (CCHPTP)

    04/06/2022 - PresentProfessional OrganizationsChair
  • activity

    Council of Clinical Health Psychology Training Programs (CCHPTP)

    12/01/2018 - 12/31/2021Professional OrganizationsSecretary

Honors

  • honor

    Excellence in Behavioral Medicine Training Program Award

    03/30/2017National AwardSociety of Behavioral Medicine
  • honor

    Distinguished Faculty Outstanding Supervisor Award

    06/17/2014Yale School of Medicine AwardPsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine
  • honor

    Distinguished Faculty Outstanding Supervisor Award

    06/30/2006Yale School of Medicine AwardPsychology Section, Department of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine

Clinical Care

Overview

Dwain Fehon, PsyD, specializes in providing psychological care to patients dealing with serious, chronic, and life-threatening illnesses. His clinical focus includes enhancing coping, resilience, and quality of life for patients living with advanced cancer and other severe medical conditions.

As a professor of psychiatry at Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Fehon’s research interests involve understanding the psychological, behavioral, and neuropsychiatric comorbidities among patients facing serious illnesses.

He explores the experiences of living with severe illness and has developed novel psychotherapies aimed at reducing stress-related symptoms such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, and substance abuse. His study on demoralization in cancer patients receiving palliative care aims to contribute to personalized palliative care by designing tailored psychotherapeutic interventions.

Dr. Fehon received his doctorate degree from the University of Hartford and completed his predoctoral fellowship and his postdoctoral fellowship at Yale School of Medicine.

Clinical Specialties

Psychiatry; Behavioral Medicine; Hospice & Palliative Care

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Contacts

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Mailing Address

Psychiatry

Yale-New Haven Hospital, 20 York Street, Fitkin 610

New Haven, CT 06510

United States

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