Exploring Researcher Distress

Dr Julie McGarry, Associate Professor, University of Nottingham, School of Health Sciences, Chair of the

Domestic Violence and Abuse Integrated Research Group, Institute of Mental Health, Nottingham, UK Email: julie.mcgarry@Nottingham.ac.uk

• Registered nurse in mental health and adult fields of practice

• Vulnerable adults• Community focus • Interest in narratives and life stories • Relationships and boundaries of care • Person-centred care

Professional Background

• Qualitative tradition

• Ethnography: boundaries and relational aspects of care

• Connectivity – arts and narrative

• Practice ‘applied’ focused

• Domestic and family violence

• Gender based violence

Research background

• Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) exerts a devastating impact on the lives and health of those who experience abuse (World Health Organisation (WHO), 2015)

• Many survivors of abuse will access health services, either as a direct result of their injuries or through associated health related issues for example, mental health services, acute and primary care services

• However, there is also a significant body of literature that suggests that healthcare professionals are not adequately prepared to support survivors of DVA

Background to research

• 2 women are killed by a male partner (or ex partner) each week

• 18% of all reported violent crime and a 33% of all homicide victims

• 31% of women and 18% of men over the age of 16 experience abuse

Source: British Crime Survey

UK research context…

…any incident or pattern of incidents of controlling, coercive or threatening behaviour, violence or abuse among those aged 16 or over who are or have been intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. The definition also includes so called ‘honour’ based violence, female genital mutilation (FGM) [cutting] and forced marriage

UK Home Office 2013 Definition of domestic violence and abuse

• In the UK there has been growing recognition of the role of health services in identification and support for survivors of DVA (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), 2014)

Background to research

• Professional perspectives: • The Emergency Department (ED) ‘Legitimacy’ • Barriers and enablers to effective identification and management of DVA • Specialist interventions in health and social care • Challenging models of practice

• The development of learning and teaching resources

• Survivor perspectives:• Survivor experiences of health care services • Preparation of professionals • Experiences of survivorship – older women and DVA • Narratives of survivorship –arts and artefacts (FGM)

Research to date

• Sensitive research:

• …an activity with physical and emotional consequences for both researcher and researched and has serious implications for practice and research (Dickson-Swift et al. 2008)

• Nursing historical engagement in ‘sensitive’ fields of enquiry

• ….domestic violence and abuse

Sensitive research

• Interviews

• Focus group

• Observation

• Workshops

• Narrative

Approaches to research

• Dickson-Swift et al (2008) further illustrate:

…it is important to first consider what it is that we, as qualitative researchers, actually do. We go into other people’s lives, sometimes at a time of crisis and stress, and we ask them [participants] to talk in detail about their experiences (p33).

Proximity

• Reflexivity:

proximity is most clearly articulated through the respective constituents of reflexivity which acknowledge the role of the researcher in “the actual production” of the data (Davies, 1999), the motivations guiding the researcher and the way in which ‘the field of study is filtered through the very particular interpretive lens of the researcher’ (Allen, 2004) and the impact of the field of research upon the researcher and vice versa in terms of personal and emotional encounters (Coffey, 1999)” (McGarry, 2010).

Proximity

• Insider-outsider

• Confidentiality and safeguarding

• Role conflict

• Nature of relationship

Roles and boundaries

• Emotional labour

• Vicarious trauma

• Isolation and confidentiality

• Separation of home and work

• “Unpreparedness”

• Ethical issues around vulnerability and “giving voice”

Impact or ‘emotional risk’

• Supervision and support

• Close liaison with agencies

• ‘Mitigation’

Impact and support

Selected reading

• Dickson-Swift, V., James, E., Liamputtong, P. (2008) Undertaking Sensitive Research in the Health and Social Sciences: Managing Boundaries, Emotions and Risks. University Press: Cambridge

 • Dickson-Swift, V., James, E.L., Kippen, S. and Liamputtong, P. (2007) Doing Sensitive Research: What

Challenges Do Qualitative Researchers Face? Qualitative Research 7(3): 327-53

 Etheringon, K. (2007) Ethical research in reflexive relationships. Qualitative Enquiry 13(5): 599-616

• McGarry, J. 2010. Exploring the effect of conducting sensitive research Nurse Researcher. 18(1), 8-14

Malpass, A., Sales, K. and Feder, G. (2015), Reducing symbolic-violence in the research encounter: collaborating with a survivor of domestic abuse in a qualitative study in UK primary care. Sociology of Health & Illness. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.12352

 • Sampson, H., Bloor, M., Fincham, B. (2008) A Price Worth Paying? Considering the ‘Cost’ of Reflexive

Research Methods and the Influence of Feminist Ways of ‘Doing’ Sociology 42(5), 919-933

• Stanko, E. & Lee, R. (2003) Methodological reflections. In Lee, R & Stanko, E. (eds) Researching Violence. Oxon: Routledge