Reflections on trauma-informed research in disaster-affected communities
Led by Dr Jo Longman and a multidisciplinary team of researchers from the Sydney Environment Institute and University Centre for Rural Health, a new paper published in BMJ Global Health provides reflections on conducting trauma-informed research with communities impacted by disasters.
Climate disasters in Australia have increased in both frequency and intensity and are predicted to worsen. For many, these disasters are traumatic. Trauma results from events experienced (directly or indirectly) and perceived as physically and/or emotionally harmful, with adverse effects on functioning, mental health and general well-being. Despite a growing literature on climate disasters and their impacts on mental health and wellbeing, gaps remain, particularly around the central role of community-led grassroots self-organising. While much more research is needed, designing and implementing such research requires deep sensitivity to trauma and a strong focus on ensuring the safety of both participants and researchers.
The paper draws on the researchers’ own experiences of designing and conducting research in flood- and bushfire-affected communities, applying a trauma-informed research approach, something that is often referenced in literature but rarely described in detail. The 2022-24 research project studied how community support networks emerged or were strengthened following climate shock events in the Northern Rivers, Blue Mountains and Hawkesbury regions. It found that community-led disaster response, recovery and adaptation plays a specialised and indispensable role by harnessing local knowledge and social connections.
The research team developed an approach informed by existing literature, trauma training, university ethics processes, and consultation with a trauma expert. This helped guide participant recruitment, data collection, analyses and the sharing of findings. With supervision from a trauma specialist, they created a supportive environment that prioritised the mental health and wellbeing of everyone involved. The paper steps out this trauma-informed research process and underscores the importance of careful planning and compassion when researching the effects of climate disasters on communities.
The paper outlines the following key stages of a trauma-informed research approach, which are discussed in greater detail in the publication:
- Ensuring the interviewing team had previous experience of communities impacted by disasters (many of the team were ‘embedded’ researchers, members of the communities participating in the study).
- As a team, undertaking trauma training and discussing impacts of trauma with a specialist trauma advisor.
- As a team, developing a distress protocol which formed the opening pages of the interview questions, so prior to every interview interviewers were reminded of the protocol.
Employing a local extensively-networked ‘community fellow’ to help with study design and facilitating community participation.
- Avoiding asking participants to repeat their story if it was already available but rather using the interview in these instances as a way to elicit the participant’s view on the veracity of the story and to elaborate.
- Explicitly quarantining 15 minutes prior to the interview for researchers to get grounded and settled ‘in their professional selves’, ensuring that they did not arrive at the interview with any sense of rush or being unmoored.
At the start of the interview:
- Acknowledging that the interview may result in some intense feelings and stopping and taking a break was an option (and providing a handout detailing resources for local wellbeing support).
- Discussing the role of the interviewer (i.e. interviewers were not counsellors).
- Encouraging the recounting rather than reliving of experiences.
During the interview:
- Using grounding techniques judiciously, such as offering a pause for a drink of water, a brief stretch break or bringing participants back into the space.
- Not probing for further detail if participants did become upset or reveal a traumatic experience but stopping and attending to the distress.
- Introducing each transition in topic or section.
At the end of the interview:
- Asking questions designed to be positive.
- Debriefing interviewers after each interview with peers and managers, and a specialist trauma advisor offered supervision where needed.
- Interviewers keeping a joint learning/reflection journal.
- Enacting self-care strategies from the trauma training.
- Researchers aiming to stay grounded and ‘in their professional selves’ (with some distance) while analysing data.
- Taking regular breaks from analysis.
- Holding weekly debrief meetings throughout the analysis period.
- Inviting participants to a participant gathering with food and a spirit of gratitude, to debrief with one another, share the research findings and describe next steps.
- Structuring gatherings on the ‘strengths’ findings first and more extensively than findings focused on challenges.
- Including a suitably qualified and experienced person from outside the research team as a mental health and well-being support at each of the gatherings, alongside professional facilitation.
The paper was written by Dr Jo Longman, Emma Pittaway, Lisa McPhie, Dr Scott Webster, Maddy Braddon, A/Prof Petr Matous, A/Prof Nader Naderpajouh, Dr Blanche Verlie, Dr Jodie Bailie. It’s informed by the research conducted in the project ‘Self organising systems to minimise future disaster risk’, funded under the joint Australian Government – NSW Government National Partnership on Disaster Risk Reduction.