Researcher Self-Care in Emotionally Demanding Research: A Proposed Conceptual Framework

Qualitative Health Research

Volumn 28, Issue 4, 2018, Pages 648-658

  Kumar, Smita ^a   Cavallaro, Liz ^b  

^a Independent Researcher and Adjunct Faculty   (India)

^b US NAVAL WAR COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

emotionally demanding research; personal trauma; prior trauma; qualitative research; retrospective qualitative analysis; sensitive topics; United States of America

Indexed keywords

COMPASSION FATIGUE; EMOTION; ETIOLOGY; HUMAN; MENTAL STRESS; PERSONNEL; PSYCHOLOGY; SELF CARE; THEORETICAL MODEL;

COMPASSION FATIGUE; EMOTIONS; HUMANS; MODELS, THEORETICAL; RESEARCH PERSONNEL; SELF CARE; STRESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL;

EID: 85041930524     PISSN: 10497323     EISSN: 15527557     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1049732317746377     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. Bahn S., (2012). Keeping academic field researchers safe: Ethical safeguards. Journal of Academic Ethics, 10, 83–91. doi:10.1007/s10805-012-9159-2
2. Bloor M., Fincham B., Sampson H., (2010). Unprepared for the worst: Risks of harm for qualitative researchers. Methodological Innovations Online, 5(1), 45–55. doi:10.4256/mio.2010.0009
3. Burles M. C., (2017). Negotiating post-research encounters: Reflections on learning of participant deaths following a qualitative study. Mortality, 22, 170–180. doi:10.1080/13576275.2017.1291605
4. Camacho D., (2016). Blurring boundaries: An emotionally aware caregiver, social worker, and researcher. Qualitative Social Work: Research and Practice, 15, 682–695. doi:10.1177/1473325016652682
5. Coles J., Astbury J., Dartnall E., Limjerwala S., (2014). A qualitative exploration of researcher trauma and researchers’ responses to investigating sexual violence. Violence Against Women, 20, 95–117. doi:10.1177/1077801213520578
6. Devitt C., Kelly P., Blake M., Hanlon A., More S. J., (2016). Conducting sensitive social science research about on-farm animal welfare incidents: Challenges and approaches. Animal Welfare, 25, 319–323. doi:10.7120/09627286.25.3.319
7. Dickson-Swift V., James E. L., Kippen S., Liamputtong P., (2007). Doing sensitive research: What challenges do qualitative researchers face? Qualitative Research, 7, 327–353. doi:10.1177/1468794107078515
8. Dunn L., (1991). Research alert! Qualitative research may be hazardous to your health! Qualitative Health Research, 1, 388–392. doi:10.1177/104973239100100307
9. Emerald E., Carpenter L., (2015). Vulnerability and emotions in research: Risks, dilemmas, and doubts. Qualitative Inquiry, 21, 741–750. doi:10.1177/1077800414566688
10. Eriksen C., (2017). Research ethics, trauma and self-care: Reflections on disaster geographies. Australian Geographer, 48, 273–278. doi:10.1080/00049182.2016.1230001
11. Fahie D., (2014). Doing sensitive research sensitively: Ethical and methodological issues in researching workplace bullying. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 13, 19–36. doi:10.1177/160940691401300108
12. Figley C. R., (2002). Compassion fatigue: Psychotherapists’ chronic lack of self care. Journal of Clinical Psychology/In Session, 58, 1433–1441. doi:10.1002/jclp.10090
13. Figley C. R., Roop R., (2006). Compassion fatigue in the animal care community. Washington, DC: Humane Society Press.
14. Fincham B., Scourfield J., Langer S., (2008). The impact of working with disturbing secondary data: Reading suicide files in a coroner’s office. Qualitative Health Research, 18, 853–862. doi:10.1177/1049732307308945
15. Fitzpatrick P., Olson R. E., (2015). A rough road map to reflexivity in qualitative research into emotions. Emotion Review, 7, 49–54. doi:10.1177/1754073914544710
16. Gilbert K., (Ed.). (2000). The emotional nature of qualitative research. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. doi:10.1201/9781420039283
17. Herrmann J., (2017). Experiences, challenges, and lessons learned—Interviewing Rwandan survivors of sexual violence. Griffith Journal of Law & Human Dignity, 5, 166–188.
18. Hubbard G., Backett-Milburn K., Kemmer D., (2001). Working with emotion: Issues for the researcher in fieldwork and teamwork. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 4, 119–137. doi:10.1080/13645570116992
19. Jackson S., Backett-Milburn K., Newall E., (2013). Reflexivity and emotional labor in the secondary analysis of children and young people’s narratives of abuse. SAGE Open, 3(2) 1-12. doi:10.1177/2158244013490705
20. Johnson B., Clarke J. M., (2003). Collecting sensitive data: The impact on researchers. Qualitative Health Research, 13, 421–434. doi:10.1177/1049732302250340
21. Johnson N., (2009). The role of self and emotion within qualitative sensitive research: A reflective account. Enquire, 2(2), 191–214.
22. Kavanaugh K. L., Campbell M. L., (2014). Conducting end-of-life research: Strategies for success. Nursing Science Quarterly, 27, 14–19. doi:10.1177/0894318413509711
23. Kiyimba N., O’Reilly M., (2015). The risk of secondary traumatic stress in the qualitative transcription process: A research note. Qualitative Research, 16, 468–476. doi:10.1177/1468794115577013
24. Kumar S., (in press). My dissertation healed me: A retrospective analysis through heuristic inquiry. The Qualitative Report.
25. Kumar S., Casey A., (2017). Work and intimate partner violence: Powerful role of work in the empowerment process for middle-class women who experience intimate partner violence. Community, Work & Family. 1-18 Advance online publication. doi:10.1080/13668803.2017.1365693
26. LaDonna K. A., Ravenek M. J., (2014). Challenges and strategies for conducting qualitative research with persons diagnosed with rare movement disorders. The Qualitative Report, 19(16), 1–18. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol19/iss16/1
27. Lee R., (1993). Doing research on sensitive topics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
28. Lee-Treweek G., Linkogle S., (Eds.). (2000). Danger in the field: Risk and ethics in social research. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9780203190340
29. Liamputtong P., Ezzy D., (2005). Qualitative research methods. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
30. Mazzetti A., (2013). Occupational stress research: Considering the emotional impact for the qualitative researcher. In Perrewé P. L., Rosen C. C., Halbesleben J. R. B., (Eds.), Research in occupational stress and well-being: Vol. 11. The role of emotion and emotion regulation in job stress and well-being (pp. 283–310). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group. doi:10.1108/S1479-3555(2013)0000011014
31. McGarrol S., (2017). The emotional challenges of conducting in-depth research into significant health issues in health geography: Reflections on emotional labour, fieldwork and life course. Area, 49, 436–442. doi:10.1111/area.12347
32. McGourty A., Farrants J., Pratt R., Cankovic M., (2010). Taking your participants home: Self care within the research process. Counselling Psychology Review, 25(4), 65–73.
33. Melius A. D., (2013). The lived experience of vicarious trauma for providers: A narrative phenomenological study (Unpublished master’s thesis). Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_dmt/46
34. Murphy D., (2017). Counseling psychology: A textbook for study and practice. West Sussex, UK: British Psychological Society.
35. Owton H., Allen-Collinson J., (2014). Close but not too close: Friendship as method(ology) in ethnographic research encounters. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 43, 283–305. doi:10.1177/0891241613495410
36. Rager K. B., (2005). Compassion stress and the qualitative researcher. Qualitative Health Research, 15, 423–430. doi:10.1177/1049732304272038
37. Rimando M., Brace A. M., Namageyo-Funa A., Parr T. L., Sealy D., Davis T. L... Christiana R. W., (2015). Data collection challenges and recommendations for early career researchers. The Qualitative Report, 20, 2025–2036. Retrieved from http://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol20/iss12/8
38. Sherry E., (2013). The vulnerable researcher: Facing the challenges of sensitive research. Qualitative Research Journal, 13, 278–288. doi:10.1108/QRJ-10-2012-0007
39. Trigwell K., Dunbar-Goddet H., (2005). The research experience of postgraduate research students at the University of Oxford. Oxford, UK: Institute for the Advancement of University Learning.
40. Weiss L., (2004). Therapist’s guide to self care. New York: Brunner-Routledge.
41. Wilkes L., Cummings J., Haigh C., (2015). Transcriptionist saturation: Knowing too much about sensitive health and social data. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 71, 295–303. doi:10.1111/jan.12510
42. Woodby L. L., Williams B. R., Wittich A. R., Burgio K. L., (2011). Expanding the notion of researcher distress: The cumulative effects of coding. Qualitative Health Research, 21, 830–838. doi:10.1177/1049732311402095