Faculty & School/Dept.
Faculty of Health - Department of Psychology
Degrees
Ph.D. - 1996
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
Awards
Parents' University Wide Teaching Award - 2003
Canadian Evaluation Society, Evaluation Excellence Award - 2012
Current Research
Dr. Hynie is generally interested in how to use research as a means for social change, both directly, through the process of research itself, and indirectly, by generating research findings that can be used for activism. The content of her research falls into three broad categories. The first is culture, immigration and health inequities. This includes culturally appropriate health and mental health care, health care access, and using community based research methods in diverse immigrant communities. The second is how basic interpersonal or social psychological processes are affected by culture. This includes looking at how stress and social support differ by culture, and the effects of culture on the experience and expression of social emotions (i.e., shame and guilt). The third is the nature of the relationship between different kinds of social connections (interpersonal relationships, social networks, community belonging) and resilience in different cultural and national contexts, and interventions that can strengthen these relationships at the community level.
As part of her interest in partnering with communities and activisits on using research for social change, Dr. Hynie founded the Program Evaluation Unit in the York Institute for Health Research, a unit that supports not for profit organizations in conducting program evaluations.
