christine.highfill@uta.edu
Research Interests:
Teaching Interests:
M. Christine Highfill, LMSW, comes to social work research with a background in psychology (BS) and human services counseling in military resilience (MA). Two decades as a Military/Veteran spouse inform her research of Military, Veteran, and family well-being. Christine published the first international literature synthesis of military-connected spouse abuse survivor narratives. The Institute for Military and Veteran Family Wellness (University of Texas, Austin) recently recognized her as an expert in U.S. Military policy on domestic abuse, the topic of her dissertation.
Christine is an emerging systematic literature synthesis methodologist. She has authored six registered protocols, published four literature synthesis articles, and is finalizing two additional scoping reviews. After mentoring numerous doctoral and MSW students in scoping review methodology, she developed a semester-long work group to support students and presented instructional sessions to both students and faculty at UTA.
She is also a skilled educator. Christine has taught 11 courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels in asynchronous online, hybrid, and face-to-face formats. As author of Military-Connected Families (Quality Matters) and member of UTA’s Military Social Work Certificate Sub-Committee, Christine contributed to the creation of the Military Social Work Graduate Certificate and the Military, Family, and Veteran Care Graduate Certificate. She currently serves on UTA’s Intimate Partner Violence Education Sub-Committee. Additionally, she is on the research and development team for Veteran Suicidality Assessment Virtual Reality (VET-SAVR), an education program for social work and nursing students as well as community gatekeepers.
Christine is a licensed social worker (LMSW, TX). As the data and evaluation coordinator for a local child welfare agency, she assists with grant writing, curriculum development, program evaluation, data management, and staff cohesion. Currently in clinical supervision, she is a therapist with a local practice. She also serves on the Fort Worth Family Justice Center’s VOICES Survivor Advocacy Network.