The Mental Health of People Doing Qualitative Research

Abstract

Qualitative research is not only challenging paradigmatically but is intellectually and interpersonally demanding too. Historically, those doing qualitative work—either by itself or in mixed method research—have not necessarily felt readily understood or as respected by funders, mainstream journals, or even colleagues. Attaining funding, publications, and respect is challenging enough for everyone—harder still when your work and its epistemological and ontological foundations are not well known or recognized. Collectively, these factors all mean that the mental health of those doing qualitative research is precious yet precarious. Indeed, research over the last decade has consistently found that researchers are 25–50% more likely to experience high stress, depression, and anxiety than the general population (Guthrie et al., 2017; Shaw, 2014). Even more concerning, recent studies identified that doctoral students are at up to 6 times greater risk of such mental health challenges as the general population (Evans, Bira, Gastelum, Weiss, & Vanderford, 2018). Risks may be even higher in women and scholars in the humanities and social sciences (Guthrie et al., 2017). The significantly wider prevalence of poor mental health in those doing research could be attributed to self-selection. People at higher risk of mental health challenges may also be those who are more attracted to prolonged research study and research-oriented and academic careers. Work for example that, rightly or wrongly, is understood to be more cerebral, intensely intellectual, and creative. Yet these trends suggest that qualitative research work and the characteristics of those attracted to doing this work increase risks of mental health challenges. Despite these patterns, there has been little acknowledgment and no exploration of whether and how qualitative research harms our mental health. In the early stages of this editorial, via twitter, we asked members of the qualitative community about their own views and experiences around mental health and qualitative work. A minority of respondents indicated that, in their experience, any kind of research can produce anxiety, high emotions, isolation, depressive symptoms, and stress. Most reported that qualitative work brought distinctive challenges to mental health—but that the range of these varied widely—for example, from feeling intense fatigue and emotional upset following particular interviews to chronic isolation from supervisors when completing whole studies. What was clear however was that qualitative research could clearly lead to mental health challenges and that these challenges were not discussed openly or often enough. Accordingly, this editorial raises the risks, silence, and stigma that exists around qualitative research and mental health.