{"id":10757,"date":"2016-09-23T12:00:43","date_gmt":"2016-09-23T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/?p=10757"},"modified":"2016-09-22T16:05:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T15:05:49","slug":"preparing-researchers-to-manage-traumatic-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/naturejobs\/2016\/09\/23\/preparing-researchers-to-manage-traumatic-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Preparing researchers to manage traumatic research"},"content":{"rendered":"

Studying traumatic events comes with its own risks \u2013 the scientific establishment needs to be doing more to protect researchers, says Dale Dominey-Howes and Danielle Drozdzewski.<\/h2>\n
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One of the authors interviews survivors a few days after\u00a0the September\u00a02009 South Pacific tsunami in the rubble of their communities in Samoa, as part of the UNESCO post-tsunami survey team reporting into the Prime Minister and King of Samoa. \u201cIt was a hard day for all of us,\u201d says Dale Dominey-Howes.<\/p><\/div>\n

What\u2019s the issue and why is it important?<\/h2>\n

Earth is destabilizing rapidly. Terrorism, conflict, genocide, human displacement, socio-economic disruption, rapid global environmental change, slow emergencies and natural disasters are more common than at any point in history. Consequently, opportunities exist for researchers to investigate the causes, consequences and potential management solutions arising from this instability. For this to happen, we need a well-trained workforce equipped with the skills and capabilities to work with \u2018traumatic\u2019 research content, people and places.<\/p>\n

Researchers in many disciplines do work involving traumatic content, with traumatized people, including rape victims, accident survivors and murderers; in traumatic places, including war zones, disaster zones and crime scenes. However, researchers are increasingly realizing that such research and critically, its repetition, causes \u2018vicarious or secondary researcher trauma<\/a>\u2019. Researching traumatic events can be, in itself, traumatic.<\/p>\n

Researcher trauma manifests in an \u2018assemblage of physical and emotional symptoms\u2019 that may include but is not limited to headaches, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal upsets, increased stress, loss of appetite, anxiety, depression, weight loss\/gain and in extreme cases, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and tragically even suicide. Clearly, \u2018researcher trauma\u2019 has negative effects on the short and long-term wellbeing of researchers and their sense of self<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Significantly, given the wider higher education sectors\u2019 tendency towards the rapid production of research and research results, and documented evidence of increased anxiety, stress and general poor mental health, the additional burden of \u2018researcher trauma\u2019 is, in our view, potentially catastrophic for those researchers. Only in a few disciplines, researchers are trained to anticipate, recognise, plan for and respond to researcher trauma. Fewer still incorporate planning for the effects of research on their staff in ethics approval processes.<\/p>\n

However, for the vast majority of researchers setting out on a career focused on traumatic research content, people and places, in the broader social sciences and humanities, including our discipline of geography, there is an almost complete absence of the recognition of researcher trauma, its outcomes and effects. This represents a significant gap in our understanding of the research process and there are no tools and skills taught to them (us) to prepare for, and to respond to, problems when things go wrong \u2013 as they often do.<\/p>\n

Consequently, researchers setting out on such a career path are especially vulnerable and ill-prepared for the impact on them as individuals. Given the modern research environment\u2019s thrust to swifter publication and fast-as-possible research productivity, space and time to make sense of dealing with traumatic experiences are two commodities researchers often do not have.<\/p>\n

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The 2009 tsunami resulted in a death toll of 135, destroyed 20 villages, and displaced 3,500 people. The Government of Samoa estimated the financial damage to be $147.25 million.<\/p><\/div>\n

So what can we do to manage the issue of researcher trauma?<\/h2>\n

For researchers setting out on careers dedicated to researching traumatic content, people and places, it is critical that they, their supervisors and employers acknowledge and prepare for potential researcher trauma.<\/p>\n

Researchers should:<\/strong><\/p>\n