Self-care for gender-based violence researchers – Beyond bubble baths and chocolate pralines

Abstract

Researching sensitive topics often carries immediate effects on researchers, yet discussions about the emotional and psychological impacts of conducting this type of research remain rare. In recent years, debates begun to emerge about the emotional and psychological toll that qualitative field-based research on violence in general, and on gender-based violence (GBV) in particular, can have on those conducting this research. Most of the existing support and self-care strategies in response to these effects, however, are primarily tailored towards practitioners, but not specifically for researchers, who often face unique challenges and experiences. At the same time, most existing self-care guidelines in the fields of violence research typically centre around neo-liberalized strategies, which fail to take into account the structural dimensions of researchers’ challenges and the long-term nature of vicarious traumatization. In this article, we move beyond such approaches and instead adopt relational and collaborative ways of taking care of ourselves and each other. Drawing on our experiences of researching GBV, we propose that strategies of coping with the emotional and psychological toll of GBV research require relationships and collaborations. This collaborative and communal approach becomes particularly acute within the absence of support and care at the structural and institutional level, within universities and organizations. The collaborative and relational approaches that we propose in this article specifically include forms of peer-support and fostering ‘caring communities’, in the form of groups, collectives or networks.

Ethical reporting of research on violence against women and children during COVID-19: Analysis of 75 studies and recommendations for future guidelines

“…In addition, qualitative studies of study interviewers show that they often bear the psychological burden/experience secondary trauma if robust procedures to ensure both their own, and participant, safety are not in place. [32][33][34] Our findings point to the importance of the development and use of reporting guidelines for research on VAW/C. Based on our work, the dimensions outlined in Table 1 provide a starting point for such guidance.…”

Ethical reporting of research on violence against women and children: a review of current practice and recommendations for future guidelines

“…In addition, a review of methodology and ethics in 21 studies including gender-based violence outcomes using remote data collection methods (focused on humanitarian and fragile settings) showed only four studies reported offering referral services and only five studies reported any other safety-related measures 29. Qualitative studies of study interviewers show that they often bear the psychological burden/experience secondary trauma if robust procedures to ensure both their own, and participant, safety are not in place 30–32…”

Self-care and vicarious resilience in victim advocates: A national study.

“…Victim advocacy is largely a female-dominated profession, as is the added work of family care (Benuto et al, 2019), suggesting that the issue of making time for self-care may be challenging systemically with VSPs. Building self-care practice into workspaces by prioritizing it within work practice by employers may serve to enhance worker’s mental and physical health (Schulz et al, 2022). Respondents in this study noted that when self-care practice was not present in their workspace, there appeared to be a lack of organizational will and, perhaps more importantly, a lack of funding to support work time dedicated to self-care practice.…”