I received my BSc (Honors) from Université de Montréal, Québec, where I contributed to research on the promotion of well-being of lesbians and gay men, as well as immigrants. I then completed a PhD in community psychology at Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec. Prior to joining Laurier’s community psychology team, I worked as a research coordinator and coinvestigator on several action research projects with members of stigmatized communities (public housing setting, people with mental disorders or disabilities, etc.).

My research interests are based on the integration of theories, concepts and methods from positive psychology (flourishing, strengths, life projects) and environmental psychology (optimal person-environment transactions) within a community perspective (focus on underprivileged communities).

My research program is comprised of two axes:

1. Understanding and reducing the well-being inequities faced by communities in stigmatizing circumstances (LGBT, people with mental disorders or disabilities, public housing setting, etc.), by considering the social ecological factors that impact their well-being, with a special interest in the role of housing and community mental health services and policies.
2. Supporting the empowerment process of people from these stigmatized communities, assisting them in reclaiming power over their personal condition and their social ecology, to achieve greater well-being.

The studies I work on combine both observational and interventional/evaluative research designs, and it involves qualitative (thematic/content analysis, Photovoice method) and quantitative data analyses (structural equation modelling, latent profile analysis, psychometric analysis). I have a special interest in mixed-methods and how they can be operationalized in order to yield useful insights for community psychology researchers and practitioners. I greatly value working in partnership with communities and their organizations (through peer-research strategies and community-based participatory research), helping them to take advantage of their own strengths, projects and knowledge.

• Mention of excellence for PhD Dissertation, Université du Québec à Montréal (2016).
• Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (2010-2013).
• Master scholarship, Quebec Research Funds – Society and Culture, Canada (2008-2010).

Students interested in working under my supervision, either as research assistants or for their MA or PhD dissertations, are invited to contact me for more information. Applications from people interested in topics that relate to community well-being and having strong social justice values are welcomed.

For the next academic year (2019/20), I will be supervising graduate students interested in one or more of the following areas:

• influence of workplace physical design on wellbeing, sense of community and sustainability 
• researchers' workplace wellbeing
• mental health peer support and its outcomes
• LGBTQ+ newcomers' wellbeing
• positive education and the wellbeing of newcomer youth

Please contact me if you have interests in these areas.

• Coulombe, S., Radziszewski, S., Meunier, S., Provencher, H., Hudon, C., Roberge, P., Provencher, M. D. and Houle, J. (2016). Profiles of recovery from mood and anxiety disorders: A person-centered exploration of people’s engagement in self-management. Frontiers in psychology – Psychology for Clinical Settings, 7(584), 1-21.
• Coulombe, S., Jutras, S., Labbé, D. and Jutras, D. (2016). Residential experience of people with disabilities: A positive psychology perspective. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 46, 42-54.

• Coulombe, S., Meunier, S., Cloutier, L., Auger, N., Roy, B., Tremblay, G., de Montigny, F., Gaboury, I., Bernard, F.-O., Lavoie, B., Dion, H. and Houle, J. (2016, early publication). Health-promoting residence and workplace neighborhoods: Associations with multiple facets of men’s health. American Journal of Men’s Health. 

• Houle, J.*, Coulombe, S.*, Radziszewski, S., Boileau, G., Morin, P., Leloup, X., Bohémier, H. and Robert, S. (accepted with minor modifications, 2016). Public housing tenants’ perspective on residential environment and positive well-being: An empowerment-based Photovoice study and its implications for social work. Journal of Social Work. *Equal contribution of these authors. 

• Houle, J., Lauzier-Jobin, F., Beaulieu, M.-D., Meunier, S., Coulombe, S., Côté, J., Lespérance, F., Chiasson, J-L., Bherer, L. and Lambert, J. (2016). Socioeconomic status and glycemic control in adult patients with type 2 diabetes: a mediation analysis. BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care, 4(e000184), 1-8.
• Coulombe, S., Radziszewski, S., Trépanier, S.-G., Provencher, H., Roberge, P., Hudon, C., Meunier, S., Provencher, M. D. and Houle, J. (2015). Mental Health Self-Management Questionnaire: Development and psychometric properties. Journal of Affective Disorders, 181, 41-49. 

• Coulombe, S. and de la Sablonnière, R. (2015). The role of identity integration in hedonic adaptation to a beneficial life change: The example of ‘coming out’. Journal of Social Psychology, 155(4), 294-313.
• Jutras, S., Coulombe, S., Labbé, D. and Jutras, D. (2015). La réappropriation de l'espace résidentiel dans les 
familles où vit une personne lésée médullaire [Reappropriation of residential space in families with a person with a spinal cord injury]. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 82(3), 169-180.
• Little, B. R. and Coulombe, S. (2015). Personal projects analysis. In International Encyclopedia of Social and 
Behavioral Sciences (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Elsevier.
• Houle, J., Meunier, S., Coulombe, S., Tremblay, G., Gaboury, I., de Montigny, F., Cloutier, L., Auger, N., Roy, B., Dion, H., Bernard, F.-O. and Lavoie, B. (2015). Masculinity ideology among male workers and its relationship to self-reported health behaviors. International Journal of Men's Health, 14(2), 163-182.
• Villaggi, B., Provencher, H., Coulombe, S., Meunier, S., Radziszewski, S., Hudon, C., Roberge, P., Provencher, M. D. and Houle, J. (2015). Self-management strategies in recovery from mood and anxiety disorders. Global Qualitative Nursing Research. doi: 10.1177/2333393615606092