Kristina Nikolova
Research Associate
Expert in intimate partner violence, child protective services, and social deteminants of health
Kristina Nikolova
Biography
Kristina Nikolova joined Wayne State University’s School of Social Work as an assistant professor in Fall 2019 and currently serves as a reserach associate for the Center for Social Work Research. Nikolova received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 2017, her MSW from the University of Windsor in 2012, and her Bachelors from Western University in 2010. Her research interests focus on the policies and practices developed in the US and internationally to address violence against women and children. Her areas of research include intimate partner violence, gender inequality, child exposure to violence, early child development, child protection services, and policy and program analysis.
Click here to view Curriculum Vitae
Degrees and Certifications
- PhD, University of Toronto, Canada
- MSW, University of Windsor, Canada
Teaching Interests
- Quantitative research methods and analysis
- US and International Social Welfare Policy
- Violence against women and children
Areas of Expertise
- Intimate partner violence
- Child exposure to IPV
- Child protection services and workforce
- Social determinants of health
- Quantitative research
- Secondary data analyses
Grand Challenges Project
Interpersonal Violence: Testing and Validating Financial Measures with Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence
In collaboration with the Center on Violence Against Women and Children at Rutgers University, Kristina Nikolova is the co-PI on a project working to understand economic empowerment and financial self-sufficiency of survivors of IPV. Perpetrators of IPV may use a range of tactics to maintain coercive control over their partners, including psychological, physical, sexual, and financial abuse. However, little is known about how to measure survivors’ financial experiences and financial self-sufficiency. Working with English and Spanish-speaking survivors, this project will validate and/or revise nine scales in English and Spanish. These nine scales include:
- Financial Literacy Scale to determine survivors’ knowledge about financial management
- Financial Management Attitudes Scale to determine survivors’ attitudes about financial management
- Economic Self-Efficacy to determine survivors’ confidence in their financial management abilities
- Financial Behaviors to determine survivors’ actual financial management behaviors
- Financial Behavioral Intentions to determine survivors’ intentions to perform particular financial behaviors
- Economic Self-Sufficiency to determine survivors’ abilities to accomplish financial tasks
- Financial Strain to determine survivors’ strain in managing their financial health
- Intimate Partner Violence to determine survivors’ experiences with physical, emotional, and sexual violence
- Economic Abuse to determine survivors’ experiences with economic abuse