Kristie Thomas

Kristie A. Thomas, PhD, MSW, has extensive practice, teaching, and research expertise in the field of anti-violence. Her work is focused on developing solutions to improve outcomes for people affected by intimate partner violence – particularly those who are economically and socially marginalized. In addition to many peer-reviewed articles, Dr. Thomas has authored online trainings, toolkits, and validated measures that are used widely by researchers and practitioners across the country. She is a recipient of the National Institutes of Health's Health Disparities Loan Repayment Program, a highly competitive award that supports the research of health professionals, and a Fellow of the Society for Social Work Research.

Dr. Thomas teaches at the master and PhD level in the School of Social Work, mentors PhD students in their dissertation work, and provides graduate students with research opportunities on her projects. Additional teaching interests include program evaluation, community organizing and development, and public health frameworks. Dr. Thomas is deeply dedicated to teaching, explaining that, "I will be forever indebted to my professors at the University of Pennsylvania; their wisdom, expertise, and constant quest for excellence and innovation — within themselves and among their students — continue to inform my research and teaching. My goal is to offer the same quality of training to my own students." Dr. Thomas is the recipient of two teaching awards: The Provost Award for Student-Centeredness in Graduate Teaching (2017), and the SAGE/American Evaluation Association Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award (2019).

Dr. Thomas serves the community and profession locally and nationally. In 2011, she co-founded the New England-based Domestic Violence Program Evaluation and Research Collaborative (DVPERC), which is comprised of over a dozen domestic violence programs and a handful of researchers spanning social work, psychology, and medicine. One of DVPERC's many projects led to the development of MOVERS (the Measure of Victim Empowerment Related to Safety), a validated outcome measure that has been adopted widely for research and evaluation purposes.

Dr. Thomas has held several leadership roles within the SSW, including MSW Program Director, PhD Program Director, and her current role as Associate Dean. Prior to joining the Simmons faculty, Dr. Thomas served as assistant director of the Ortner Center on Violence & Abuse in Relationships at the University of Pennsylvania and a research consultant for the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women. 

Education

• PhD, Social Welfare, from University of Pennsylvania
• MSW, Macro Practice, from University of Pennsylvania
• BS, Psychology and Sociology, from St. Joseph’s University

Courses

• SW 482 Domestic Violence and Family Welfare (clinical elective)
• SW 509 Evaluation in Social Work Practice (MSW required course)
• SW 610 Social and Behavioral Theory (PhD required course)

Research/Creative Activities

Dr. Thomas’ research focuses primarily on improving services for people experiencing housing instability and intimate partner violence (IPV), and she is currently conducting a large-scale evaluation of an aftercare program for IPV survivors who received a housing voucher. She is also working on a qualitative exploration of low-income survivors’ experience with mental health therapy. Recently completed projects include a study that explored Responsible Fatherhood Groups as a vehicle for domestic violence education and prevention and innovative pilot project called SASH (Survivors Achieving Stable Housing). She enjoys supporting the work of her PhD mentees and has helped them publish articles on a range of innovative topics related to social work practice.

In addition to empirical projects, Dr. Thomas’ other works include the development of an online training for practitioners who work with people affected by intimate partner violence, and an online toolkit for emerging researchers on conducting community-based participatory research with members of the domestic violence community.

Grant funding (selected)

• 2022-2025 Subrecipient Principal Investigator. (PI: Dr. Jill Messing of Arizona State University). Survivor Link + Public Health AmeriCorps Program. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Corporation for National and Community Service.
• 2022-2025 Lead Evaluator. New Destiny Housing’s Emergency Housing Voucher Aftercare Program Evaluation. Funded by The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
• 2021-2024 Co-PI (with Dr. Melinda Gushwa). Institute for Trauma Treatment in Schools. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, $2,929,617.
• 2020 – 2022 Lead Evaluator. School of Social Work Expansion of Practitioner Education Professions. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration, $196,591.
• 2018-2019 Principal Investigator, Center for Policy Research, Fatherhood and Research Practice Network. Responsible Fatherhood Groups and domestic violence education: An exploratory study of current practices, barriers, and opportunities. $25,409.
• 2017-2020 Co-Lead Evaluator (with Jill Messing). Survivors Achieving Stable Housing (SASH): Implementation and Evaluation. Funds awarded to the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence.

Publications

A Selection of Recent Peer Reviewed Publications

* Indicates author was a graduate student at time of writing

Hagar, J.* Thomas, K. A., Reisch, M. (accepted). Factors contributing to social justice action: A scoping review of the published literature. Social Justice Research.

Thomas, K. A. & Bailey, C.,* (2024). The 21st Century Cures Act: More harm than good for survivors of intimate partner violence?" Violence Against Women. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/10778012241280053.

Putney, J., Halmo, R.,* Collin, C., Abrego-Baltay, B.,* O’Brien, M.,* Thomas, K. A. (2024). “The barrier to care is slowly but surely torn down”: The perceived impact of substance use education on social work students’ knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Substance Use & Addiction Journal, 45(3) 446–452. DOI: 10.1177/29767342241229051.

Brewer, N. Q.,* Thomas, K. A., & Guadalupe-Diaz, X. (2024). "It's their consent you have to wait for": Intimate Partner Violence and BDSM Among Gender and Sexual Minoritized Youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 39, 35-58. DOI: 10.1177/08862605231193445

Hailes H.,* Colgan, C.* Goodman, L. A., & Thomas, K. A. (2023). Power and presence in Research-Academic Partnerships. Journal for Social Action in Counseling & Psychology, 14(2), 81–95. https://doi.org/10.33043/JSACP.14.2.81-95.

Thomas, K.A., & Mederos, F. (2021). "You gotta make them feel": A study of evidence-informed strategies for addressing domestic violence in fatherhood programs. (Eds. J. Fagan & J. Pearson). New Research on Programs for Low-income Fathers. New York: Routledge.

Messing, J. T., Thomas, K.A, Ward-Lasher, A.* & Johnson, J. (2021). Survivors Achieving Stable Housing (SASH): A case study. Social Work, 66(1), 49-58. DOI: 10.1093/sw/swaa046.

Thomas, K. A., Messing, J. T., Ward-Lasher, A.,* & Bones, A. (2020). No easy decisions: Developing an evidence-informed process to allocate Housing Choice Vouchers to survivors of intimate partner violence. Housing Policy Debate, 30, 783-805. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2020.1755336.

Thomas, K. A., Ward-Lasher, A.,* Kappas, A.,* & Messing, J. T. (2020). "It actually isn't just about housing": Success in a Domestic Violence Housing First Program. Journal of Social Service Research. Advance Online publication, March 30, 2020. DOI: 10.1080/01488376.2020.1745349

Ragavan, M., Thomas, K. A., Fulambarker, A., Zaricor, J.*, Goodman, L. A., & Bair-Merritt-M. (2020). Exploring the needs and lived experiences of racial and ethnic minority domestic violence survivors through community-based participatory research: A systematic review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 21, 946-963. DOI: 10.1177/1524838018813204

Messing, J. T., Thomas, K.A, Ward-Lasher, A.* & Brewer, N.Q., (2021) A comparison of intimate partner violence strangulation between same-sex and different-sex couples. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36, 2887-2905. https://doi.org/10.1177/0886260518757223

Brewer, N.Q.* & Thomas, K.A. (2019). Impediments to academic performance among undergraduate survivors of intimate partner violence. Social Work in Healthcare, 58, 854-869. DOI: 10.1080/00981389.2019.1659905

Thomas, K. A., Mederos, F., & Rodriguez, G.* (2019). "It shakes you for the rest of your life": An exploratory study of low-income fathers' understanding of domestic violence and its impact on children. Psychology of Violence, 9, 564–573.

Ragavan, M., Thomas, K. A., Medzhitova, J.,* Brewer, N. Q.*, Goodman, L. A., & Bair-Merritt-M. (2019). A systematic review of community-based participatory research interventions for domestic violence survivors. Psychology of Violence, 9(2), 139-155. DOI: 10.1037/vio0000183

Sattler, L.,* Thomas, K. A. & Cadet, T. L., (2019). Reactive protection? Fear, victimization, and school violence among U.S. high school students. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 34, 3666-3690. DOI: 10.1177/0886260516672054

Thomas, K. A., Goodman, L. A., Barkai, R., Collins-Gousby, D., Heimel, D., & Schon-Vainer, E. (2018). Conducting ongoing and regionally focused community-based participatory research: The story of the Domestic Violence Program Evaluation Research Collaborative (DVPERC). Journal of Family Violence, 33(8) 537-549. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-018-9978-z

Goodman, L., A. Thomas, K. A., Cattaneo, L. B., Heimel, D. Woulfe, J.,* & Chong, S. K.* (2016). Survivor-defined practice in domestic violence work: Measure development and preliminary evidence of link to empowerment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 31(1), 163-185.

Thomas, K. A., Goodman, L., A. & Putnins, S.* (2015). "I have lost everything:" Trade-offs of seeking safety from intimate partner violence. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 85, 170-180.

Goodman, L., A. Cattaneo, L. B., Thomas, K. A., Woulfe, J.,* Chong, S. K.* & Smyth, K. F. (2015). Enhancing survivors' wellbeing through program evaluation: The Measure of Victim Empowerment Related to Safety (MOVERS). Psychology of Violence, 5, 355-366.

Brewer, N.Q.* Thomas, K.A., & Higdon, J. (2018). Intimate partner violence, sexuality, and academic performance among a national sample of undergraduates. Journal of American College Health, 66, 683-692. DOI: 10.1080/07448481.2018.1454929

Dichter, M. E., Thomas, K. A., Crist-Christoph, P. Ogden, S. & Rhodes, K. V. (2018). Coercive control in intimate partner violence: Relationship with women's experience of violence, use of violence, and danger. Psychology of Violence, 8, 596-604. DOI: 10.1037/vio0000158.

Goodman, L., Thomas, K. A., Nnawulezi, N., Lippy, C., Serrata, J. V., Ghanbarpour, S., Sullivan, C., & Bair-Merritt, M. H. (2018). Bringing community based participatory research to intimate domestic violence research: An online toolkit. Journal of Family Violence, 33, 103-107. DOI: 10.1007/s10896-017-9944-1.

Thomas, K. A., Sorenson, S. B., & Joshi, M. (2016). "Consent is good, joyous, sexy": A banner campaign to market consent to college students. Journal of American College Health, 64(8), 639-650. DOI:10.1080/07448481.2016.1217869

Thomas, K. A., So, M.* (2016). Lost in limbo: An exploratory study of homeless mothers' experiences and needs at emergency assistance hotels. Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services, 97(2), 120–131.

A Selection of Reports and other Publications

Thomas, K. A. (2023, October 23). Domestic violence survivors deserve federally financed flexible funding [Op-Ed]. Boston Globe. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/10/23/opinion/domestic-violence-survivors-assistance-funding/

Thomas, K. A. (2022, January). Evaluation of New Destiny Housing Corporation’s Family Support Program: Final Report. New York: New Destiny Housing Corporation. Available here.

Thomas, K. A. & Mederos, F. (2020, January). Responsible fatherhood groups and domestic violence education: An exploratory study of current practices, barriers, and opportunities. Denver, CO: Fatherhood Research and Practice Network. https://www.frpn.org/asset/frpn-grantee-report-responsible-fatherhood-groups-and-domestic-violence-education-exploratory

Thomas, K. A., Coley, E., Chadwick, M., Devereaux, D., Melbin, A., Miller, E. E., Yu, L., Zaricor, J.* & Hubert, S. (2020). Simmons University MA Chapter 260 Training on Domestic and Sexual Violence. Available at https://sites.google.com/a/simmons.edu/chapter-260-dv-sv-training/.

Thomas, K. A., Chadwick, M., Devereaux, D., Melbin, A., Miller, E. E., Yu, L., Zaricor, J.* & Hubert, S. (2017). Simmons School of Social Work Domestic Violence Training (3^rd edition). Available at https://sites.google.com/a/simmons.edu/dv-training/

Goodman, L., Thomas, K. A., Serrata, J. V., Lippy, C., Nnawulezi, N., Ghanbarpour, S., Macy, R. J., Sullivan, C., & Bair-Merritt, M. (2017). Bringing community based participatory research to domestic violence research: An online toolkit for emerging researchers. Available at http://cbprtoolkit.org.