Being prepared for emotionally demanding research

Abstract

Research on topics such as child sexual abuse can be emotionally demanding for researchers in ways that surpass many other lines of work. Burrell et al. draw on their own experience to offer recommendations that may help increase researchers' resilience to these challenges. Main Research in some domains, such as research into abuse or violence, can undeniably take a toll on researchers. But this research is important as it helps to explore challenging aspects of the world we live in and make meaningful recommendations for change. It is therefore essential for research teams to put measures in place to support researchers before and during working on these projects. Emotionally demanding research (EDR) 1 is a label for "research that demands a tremendous amount of mental, emotional, or physical energy and potentially affects or depletes the researcher's health or well-being". EDR is not limited to research on sensitive issues (e.g., violence, abuse, mental health, chronic or terminal illness, and death). Research can also be emotionally demanding when it concerns topics similar to the personal/traumatic experiences of the researcher, when the researcher experiences traumatic life events while conducting a study, and also when unexpected events arise during research that were not previously identified as a sensitive issue 1. However, despite all possible differences, the overarching experiences of researchers will often be similar. For example, hearing personal accounts of the ways in which certain life experiences have a lasting psychological and/or physical impact on people, and the way they engage with and relate to the world around them, can affect researchers regardless of the topic area 2. This can be emotionally demanding for anyone, but is especially so for researchers who have to immerse themselves in their data and the material, and ultimately places them at risk of being negatively impacted by their work. We are a team of researchers comprising a lead researcher, four research fellows, and two research assistants working across the disciplines of psychology, philosophy, and linguistics. The topic area we have been working on together for over 2 years is child sexual abuse, and we all have varying experiences of working on EDR projects in the past, including online child sexual exploitation and abuse, female genital mutilation, homicide, and robbery/burglary. Based on our collective experiences, we reflect on what was helpful and worked well, and we make suggestions about what other research teams may wish to consider to improve researchers' resilience. We also offer practical recommendations (Box 1, Box 2). These are based on a number of strategies, which we developed over the years to help us manage and cope with working on EDR projects. On the basis of our collective experiences, we propose the following recommendations for consideration by research teams who work on EDR, broadly falling within the areas of: (i) support and wellbeing (Box 1), (ii) working patterns and environment, and (iii) knowing yourself and your limits (Box 2).