My research interests all focus on the human experience in response to chronic diseases, but above all the treatments and advanced medical technologies used. I am most interested in organ transplantation, and I am working in close co-operation with the kidney and pancreas transplant teams at the CHUM, with whom I have developed a research program in transplant psychology.

Differences between men and women: role of stress, hostility and autonomic nervous system functions in health and cardiovascular disease; psychological distress and recurring syncopes; risk of hypertension/heart disease/heart attacks, pain sensitivity and clinical impact; psychological or psychophysiological interventions.

Methods used:

Experimental and/or prospective studies with psychosocial interviews, physiological monitoring and blood tests. Ecological validation of data with monitoring of day-to-day behaviour, emotions and/or symptoms.

My research interests focus on sexual assault of children and adolescents and I am a member of the Research Center of Interdisciplinary Research on Marital Problems and Sexual Assault (CRIPCAS). Two lines of research emerge from my work. The first aims to understand the variability of life trajectories after sexual assault during childhood or adolescence, including the involvement of processes such as resilience or psychotherapy in subsequent psychological functioning. The second focuses on primary, secondary and tertiary prevention of sexual assault of children and adolescents, including the effectiveness of interventions to reduce the incidence of sexual assault among youth. 

I lead the Research Laboratory on the trajectories of health and resilience of sexually abused young people: TRAJETS. TRAJETS focuses on all the life trajectories of young people who have been exposed to sexual violence during childhood or adolescence. First, we want to document the consequences of sexual assault on the physical and mental health of young people. In doing so, we examine how sexual assault interacts with different life contexts to produce more or less harmful consequences for young people and how these consequences evolve in the short, medium and long term. 

Risk factors that overlap sexual abuse, such as abuse or neglect, and protective factors that may coexist with sexual abuse or assault, such as social support, are central to our studies. These risk and protective factors allow us to better understand what facilitates or hinders the development of young people when they have been sexually assaulted. 

Through our studies, we want to help build the resilience of young people, their families and their environments.

Health psychology: Cancer, quality of life and mental health - Consequences on patients and their families of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatments: psychiatric symptoms, marital relations, sexual dysfunctions, social support network, body image, communication, defence mechanisms, etc. Epidemiological study of Quebeckers' mental health: rate of psychiatric disorders in various ethnic groups, by gender, ethnicity, impact of immigration, length of stay, etc.

Intercultural psychology: adaptation of immigrants and ethnic groups from different countries (Haiti, Morocco, Lebanon, Italy, etc.) or of different religions (Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim). Adaptation in psychological, social, professional, psychiatric, family and other terms. Comparative analysis of means of acculturation, family structures, identity processes, discrimination, endogamous and exogamous marriages, etc.

My research interests concern adolescence, more specifically the various behaviour problems that can occur at this age and require intervention, without necessarily having the teenager’s full co-operation. I am interested in the factors associated with assessment and the variables likely to influence the outcome of the suggested interventions.

My research lies at the crossroads of health psychology and clinical psychology.

In my current work, two lines of research can be distinguished. First, I am trying to identify the psychological repercussions of disease, taking account of the central aspects of quality of life and adjustment to the illness.

I am interested in measuring and detecting the emotional distress and psychopathological repercussions of disease. This modelling and the subsequent measurement are an essential step leading to psychological intervention. Second, I study relations between patients and caregivers, through concepts like empathetic understanding. I am trying to define and measure clinical empathy, to understand the factors promoting and inhibiting empathy, and to assess the health effects of clinical empathy.

In particular, I am developing research in the field of cancer and psychosocial oncology, taking account of the impact of and adjustment to illness for the individual, couples and family. Accordingly, my work concerns both child and adult psychology.

My work is based on a constant back and forth between research and practice, so as to ask clinically relevant research questions and to enrich clinical activity with new data.

My laboratory is based at the CHU Sainte-Justine research centre, where I am responsible for the quality of life theme of the Centre of Excellence in Immunology-Hematology-Oncology. This team also welcomes doctoral candidates, post-doctoral fellows, and MSc and honours thesis students.