Engaging with people affected by trauma
In the next of our articles on involving people from ‘seldom-heard’ communities in research, we take a look at how to engage with people who have experienced trauma.
A couple of our recent projects have involved people who have been through exceptionally distressing experiences: The British Red Cross wanted to understand people’s experiences of receiving support in the aftermath of a major emergency, and Citizens Advice needed evidence from people with experience of domestic abuse to explore the role of postal services in domestic abuse. We share our lessons from these projects in this article on identifying, involving and representing people with experience of trauma in research.
The number 1 priority – keeping people safe
One of our duties in research is to keep people safe from harm, but when we’re involving people with experience of trauma, this requirement becomes our top concern. These people are highly vulnerable and revisiting their experiences can be traumatic in itself. The survivors of domestic abuse we spoke with faced additional risks. Some of them lived with the ongoing threat of abusive ex-partners trying to trace them. Any activity that might identify them or their whereabouts could put them at risk of physical or emotional abuse, harassment, arson or – in some cases – homicide. We had to think especially carefully about how we would identify people, how we would interview them, how we would keep their data safe, and how to keep make sure their voices were heard while they remained anonymous.
For the Citizens Advice project, we developed a comprehensive set of ‘Keeping People Safe’ protocols, which we circulated to organisations who support survivors of domestic abuse for their input. We then used these to guide our approach and to reassure organisations we approached to help in the research.
Identifying and recruiting the right people
There’s a common theme in these articles – traditional recruitment methods don’t work when we’re recruiting people with ‘seldom heard’ experiences. Recruitment via social networks and social media can work really well here. In both of these projects, we went via support organisations, Facebook groups and online communities to promote the research projects and invite people to take part. In both cases, we were lucky to find that the subject matter struck a chord, and people wanted to come forward to share their stories to improve things for others in a similar situation.
Putting participants in control
Traumatic events (and domestic abuse in particular) disempower people – reducing our agency or ability to make decisions, and making us depend on others for support or access to the most basic of human needs. We therefore need to be mindful of the power dynamic in research: typically, the researcher is in control of the process and the content, they have the expertise, and the participants or respondents are ‘subject’ to the process. For these projects, we were careful to put participants in control as much as possible, including:
How they are involved (e.g. their preferred channel, location, time etc.);
What and how much they share; and
How their voices are represented.
In both projects, we were led by the stories participants shared with us, deliberately keeping discussion guides fluid, so that they could take the lead, with minimal interruption or direction from interviewers.
Sensitive interviewing by experienced researchers
We are fortunate enough to have a team of highly experienced, senior-level researchers, all of whom have experience of speaking with people on sensitive and difficult subject matters. We also have a hand-picked network of specialist associates, and for these projects were lucky to be able to work with a couple of associates who are also trained counsellors with expertise in working with people who have experienced trauma. This experience is invaluable in being able to help people share their stories at the level that is right for them.
In spite of sensitive interviewing, revisiting their experiences can be upsetting and distressing for people who have been through trauma. We recommend being prepared with relevant support organisation and helpline numbers, and also advocate follow-up welfare checks: we dropped survivors of domestic abuse a quick text the following day to check they were okay. Their responses showed they appreciated us reaching out, and this was also reassuring for interviewers who heard some distressing stories.
Representing stories
Our mission is to bring the voices of communities into the heart of organisations. This is a weighty responsibility, particularly when participants are so vulnerable and often over-looked. Thankfully, few of us ever experience the type of trauma we heard about in these projects, and it can be hard for us to relate to the events or the impact they have. However, our clients are often trying to find practical solutions to support people in these situations, and need to understand the detail of people’s experiences to know how they can help. Some clients want to raise the profile of these issues, and need hard-hitting evidence to drive change.
We find that, in the context of a clearly structured report, presenting participants’ stories in the form of film, audio clips and extended case studies has real impact and immediacy. First person testimonies help people in organisations to connect and empathise with the people who are sharing their stories, and we believe that connection and empathy are essential to inspire decision- and policy-makers to make changes that will improve situations for others in similar circumstances.