Karin Wachter
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Mail code: 3920Campus: Dtphx
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Karin Wachter's goal is to generate applied research for local, national, and international practitioners and policy makers to alleviate the psychosocial consequences of forced migration and violence against women.
Dr. Wachter worked for 10 years as a humanitarian aid worker focused on violence against women and girls in contexts affected by armed conflict, political instability, natural disasters, and forced displacement. Since joining academia, she has worked with U.S.-based refugee resettlement agencies as an evaluator and researcher.
Dr. Wachter served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Trainer in Mauritania in the late 1990s.
- PhD in Social Work, University of Texas at Austin
- MEd in International Education, University of Massachusetts
- BAs in Social Science and Drama, University of Michigan
- She also had the privilege as an undergraduate student to study at the University of Ghana
My research seeks to promote the health and psychosocial wellbeing of populations affected by war, forced migration, and refugee resettlement. My community-engaged research currently focuses on the following areas: (1) advancing innovation in intimate partner violence prevention; (2) examining the protective role of social support in mitigating gendered health disparities; and (3) understanding occupational experiences and promoting the wellbeing of social service and healthcare providers. Crosscutting themes in my scholarship include situating lived experiences and knowledge production within socio-political and structural contexts, attunement to rigor and ethics, and collaborative and relational practice.
Director of the Office of Refugee Health, Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC), School of Social Work, ASU. https://sirc.asu.edu/office-refugee-health
Core Faculty affiliated with the Office of Gender-Based Violence Office (OGBV), School of Social Work, ASU. https://socialwork.asu.edu/gender-violence
Select Journal Articles
Wachter, K., Shaw, S.A., Baccam, Z.,* Rodgers, G. + (2026). Compassion satisfaction, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout among refugee resettlement workers in the United States. Journal of Social Service Research. https://doi.org/10.1080/01488376.2026.2633334
Wachter, K., Baccam, Z.,* Burgess, T.,* & Alemi, Q. (2025). A scoping review of the intimate partner violence literature among Afghans across contexts. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 26(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380241271419
Gupta, J., Dalpe, J., Kanselaar, S.,* Ramanadhan, S., Comoe Boa, P., Williams, M.S., Wachter, K. (2023). Ea$ing into the US: Study protocol for adapting the Economic and Social Empowerment (EA$E) intervention for US-based forcibly displaced populations. BMJ Open, 13, e069069. doi:10.1136/ bmjopen-2022-069069
Cook Heffron, L., Wachter, K. & Rubalcava Hernandez, E.* (2022). “Mi corazón se partió en dos”: Transnational motherhood at the intersection of migration and violence. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(20), 13404. doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192013404
Messing, J., Wachter, K., AbiNader, M., Ward-Lasher, A.,* Njie-Carr, V., Sabri, B., Murray, S. Noor-Oshiro, A., Campbell, J. (2022). “We have to build trust": Intimate partner violence risk assessment with immigrant and refugee survivors. Social Work Research. doi.org/10.1093/swr/svab030
Wachter, K., Bunn, M., Schuster, R.C., Boateng, G., Cameli, K.,* & Johnson-Agbakwu, C., (2021). A scoping review of social support research among refugees in resettlement: Implications for conceptual and empirical research. Journal of Refugee Studies. doi.org/10.1093/jrs/feab040
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L. & Dalpe, J. (2021). “We weren’t ready:” Provider perspectives on addressing intimate partner violence among refugees and immigrants in the United States. Journal of Family Violence, 37, 235-246. doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00285-2
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L. & Dalpe, J. (2021). “Back home you just go talk to the family”: The role of family among women who seek help for intimate partner violence pre- and post-resettlement to the United States. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 36(15-16), 7574-7598. doi.org/10.1177/0886260519835861
Wachter, K., Cook Heffron, L., Dalpe, J., & Spitz, A. (2021). “Where is the women’s center here?”: The role of information in refugee women’s help seeking for intimate partner violence in a resettlement context. Violence Against Women, 27(12-13), 2355-2376. doi.org/10.1177/1077801220971364
Wachter, K., Dalpe, J. & Cook Heffron, L. (2019). Conceptualizations of domestic violence-related needs among women who resettled to the U.S. as refugees. Social Work Research, 43(4), 207-219. doi.org//10.1093/swr/svz008
Wachter, K., Gulbas, L. & Snyder, S. (2021). Connecting in resettlement: An examination of social support among Congolese women in the United States. Qualitative Social Work. doi.org/10.1177/14733250211008495
Wachter, K. & Gulbas, L. (2018). Social support under siege: An analysis of forced migration among women from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Social Science and Medicine, 208, 107-116. doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.04.056
Wachter, K. & Snyder, S. (2018). Centering subjectivities: Theoretical considerations for practice with women in forced migration. Affilia, 33(3), 395-409. doi.org/10.1177/0886109918766620
Wachter, K., Horn, R., Friis, E., Falb, K., Ward, L., Apio, C., Wanjiku, S., & Puffer, E. (2018). Drivers of intimate partner violence against women in three refugee camps. Violence Against Women, 24(3), 286-306. doi.org/10.1177/1077801216689163
Select Studies
2023 – 2025
Principal Investigator
Pre- and post-resettlement drivers of intimate partner violence among Afghan refugees in the United States, funded by The Harry Frank Guggenheim Distinguished Scholar Awards. $89,300.
2019 – 2022
Principal Investigator (Co-Investigators: Schuster, Boateng, Johnson-Agbakwu)
“Something is missing here”: Culturally relevant measurement of social support among Congolese refugee women in resettlement, funded by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities within the U54 Specialized Center of Excellence, Marsiglia, F. (PI). “Leveraging biocultural mechanisms to increase the impact of multi-level preventable disease interventions in partnership with populations of the Southwest.” Southwest Interdisciplinary Research Center (SIRC), Arizona State University. $50,0000, U54MD002316.
2016 – 2018
Principal Investigator
Bridging the gap: A multi methods study to inform services for refugee and immigrant survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault, funded by the Office for Violence against Women (OVW), Department of Justice, grant recipient: The International Rescue Committee, New York, NY, $314,666, 2016-SI-AX-0004.
Courses
2026 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods Social Work |
2026 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
| SWG 598 | Special Topics |
| SWG 598 | Special Topics |
| SWG 718 | Critical Qual Research Methods |
2025 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods Social Work |
2025 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
| SWG 598 | Special Topics |
| SWG 598 | Special Topics |
2024 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
2023 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods Social Work |
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods in Social Wk |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods in Social Wk |
| SWU 320 | Research Methods in Social Wk |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWG 718 | Qualitative Research Methods |
| SWU 418 | Global Violence Against Women |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| SWU 320 | Research Methods in Social Wk |