Press Release
Wednesday, February 10, 2021
Professor Geneviève Bouchard Carries Out a Project on the Mental Health of Minority Francophone Populations
Geneviève Bouchard, full professor in the School of Psychology at the Université de Moncton, is the principal researcher on a research project entitled “Santé mentale des populations francophones en situation minoritaire : la question des mesures de suivi de progrès en psychothérapie” (Mental Health of Minority Francophone Populations: The question of progress monitoring indicators in psychotherapy).
Project Summary:
Previous research has shown that the fact of formally measuring the progress of psychotherapy clients using progress monitoring indicators improves the effectiveness of the psychotherapy. Progress monitoring indicators are tools to rapidly assess psychotherapy clients’ mental health vital signs. However, Francophone clinicians, particularly those in minority settings, have access to a relatively limited number of tools that are demonstrated to be effective. The goal of the study was to document the effectiveness of the Francophone versions of six progress monitoring indicators in predicting clients’ mental health, that is, their psychological wellbeing and distress. Analyses on a sample of Francophones living in a minority setting and undergoing psychotherapy revealed that all the progress monitoring indicators studied effectively assess clients’ mental health. Certain indicators are especially sensitive and can even detect changes in clients’ mental health observed during the course of treatment sessions.
The study results are innovative in that they document the effectiveness of several French-language tools used to monitor the progress of psychotherapy clients. “We hope that this study will stimulate research on and development of support resources in order to better equip mental health clinicians treating Francophones,” Professor Bouchard explained.
The project received a grant of $35,050 from the Consortium national de formation en santé’s (CNFS) national research fund, as well as an internal grant from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research of the Université de Moncton.
Professor Bouchard carried out the project with Mylène Lachance-Grzela, co-researcher and associate professor in the Université de Moncton’s School of Psychology; Andréanne Charbonneau, research professional; and Caissie Fournier and Michelle Arsenault, students in the Doctor of Psychology program. Research assistants also contributed to the research project.
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