Troubling/trouble in the academy: posttraumatic stress disorder and sexual abuse research

Abstract

The potential and actual impact of traumatic research work on researchers has been of focus in academic literature for at least the past 30 years (Alexander et al., Violence and Victims , 4(1), 57-62, 1989 ; Bahn and Weatherill, Qualitative Research , 13(1), 19-35, 2012 ; Coles et al., Violence Against Women , 20(1), 95-117, 2014 ; Coles and Mudaly, Child Abuse Review , 19, 56-69, 2010 ; Connolly and Reilly, Qualitative Inquiry , 13(4): 522-540, 2007 ; McCosker et al., Forum: Qualitative Social Research , 2(1): 1-13, 2001 ). This period of time—over 30 years ago—is approximately same age I was when I commenced writing this paper as a result of my direct experience with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a consequence of academic research. For the entirety of my life, researchers have been writing their accounts of trauma, and yet it is an experience that I, and many others, still endure. In this piece, an autoethnographic account is used to explore my diagnosis of PTSD as a consequence of involvement on an academic project examining particular aspects of sexual abuse. In doing so, I examine how PTSD is approached and addressed within the academy, the serious impact that working with traumatic material can have, and suggest a number of approaches that can be considered to address this. These include outlining how we can plan for trauma in research, how considerations of trauma should be built into institutional review boards and ethics applications, and how we can best understand and address the unfair impact that trauma has on fixed-term and casual staff members.

Undertaking qualitative research on trauma: impacts on researchers and guidelines for risk management

“…Compassion fatigue results from a combination of the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others (Figley, 2013). These concepts have been extensively explored with therapists (Barros et al, 2020;Figley, 2013;Pearlman, 1990, 2015;Pearlman and Mac, 1995) and reporting the impacts using these concepts is now common for trauma researchers (Berger, 2021;Coles et al, 2014;Drozdzewski and Dominey-Howes, 2022;Gleeson, 2021) with up to 81.6% of researchers in one study reported at least one symptom of secondary traumatic stress (McLennan et al, 2016). Van Dernoot Lipsky (2009) uses the term "trauma stewardship" to refer to trauma exposure responses and highlights the importance of considering how this stewardship affects our decisions as researchers to undertake trauma research, how we are affected by it, and how we make sense of and learn from our experiences.…”

“…Universities (and other research organisations) have a duty of care to employees, however despite repeated calls for the development and formalisation of protocols and guidelines to include researchers (alongside research participants) are still not widely used. The risk of developing secondary trauma reactions in researchers becomes even more acute when studying qualitatively traumatic situations such as domestic violence (Cullen et al, 2021;Keyel, 2020), sexual abuse (Campbell, 2002(Campbell, , 2017Campbell et al, 2019;Gleeson, 2021), and even victims of war and terror (Isobel, 2021;Keyel, 2020). The impacts of trauma on researchers have been documented in many reflective and empirical accounts.…”

“…This would include an overview of how researchers (and other team members) will be protected from the risk of vicarious trauma including measures and/or strategies that will be implemented and budgeted accordingly (Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), 2015). There are some good examples in the literature of strategies researchers have used (for example allocating funds for professional psychological support (Gleeson, 2021). Researchers are not immune from the impact of the casualisation of the higher education workforce and ongoing lack of risk management for research projects (Bahn, 2012;Bahn and Weatherill, 2012;Bloor et al, 2010).…”

“…It has been recommended that researchers and research institutions should also be encouraged to have arrangements for such supervision formalised within their guidelines (Bloor et al, 2007;Bowtell et al, 2013;Dominey-Howes and Drozdzewski, 2016). Researchers have reported seeking assistance through university provided employee assistance programs (Gleeson, 2021) however for those that require specialist care this would not be appropriate. There are a number of good examples of how supervision and support for researchers can be built into research projects.…”

“…Hubbard and colleagues (2001) raised this issue many years ago calling for the establishment of a "responsive and supportive culture, which acknowledges upfront that researchers may experience emotions during and after fieldwork" (p. 134). Whilst many have recommended that granting bodies openly encourage researchers to factor in these additional costs (Dickson-Swift et al, 2008;Dominey-Howes and Drozdzewski, 2016;Gleeson, 2021) many still do not do so. A failure to provide a researcher with the necessary support can have an impact on the success of the project and the health and wellbeing of the researcher.…”