Survivor-Researcher Writing Collaborations: Unpacking the Process Using Principles of Community-Based Participatory Research and Trauma-Informed Care

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) has shifted the way knowledge is generated and promotes social justice principles of equity and inclusion. CBPR is grounded in the principle of partnership between community-representatives and researchers, and acknowledges the expertise and promotes the active involvement of all parties. This approach has effectively shifted the focus of research on communities to research with communities. Efforts to promote CBPR within the field of violence against women particularly have historically been used and are currently being promoted (e.g., Community-based Participatory Research Toolkit for Domestic Violence Research, 2017). While these efforts have gained traction, the status quo of research and academic writing on violence against women and children has still predominantly been one-sided with researchers serving as the generators of knowledge. This status quo approach privileges researcher only knowledge and creates distance between those conducting research and the lived experience of those who are the focus of research. Though guides to CBPR exist, models for dissemination, particularly peer-reviewed publications, with survivor-researcher writing partnerships are limited.

Academic writing collaborations that center survivors' experiences may present a somewhat unique arm of CBPR. The process of writing as a survivor-researcher team poses many opportunities that are not often discussed let alone held up as exemplary. These opportunities include highlighting survivors' voice without filters, such as an analysis framework applied by a researcher; noting directly how survivors' experiences illuminate the gaps in literature; and creating space for researchers who are also survivors to bring their whole selves to their academic writing. As such, survivor-researcher writing may benefit from combining the CBPR framework with the principles of trauma-informed care, including safety, trustworthiness and transparency, peer support, collaboration and mutuality, empowerment, voice and choice, and the incorporation of cultural, historical, and gender issues.

This roundtable session will engage in a dialogue focusing on the experiences and processes of a survivor-researcher writing collaboration through the lenses of CBPR and trauma-informed principles. One presenter will illustrate the intersection of CBPR and Trauma Informed principles in the context of survivor-researcher writing partnerships. The second presenter will discuss the survivor perspective, including the benefits and challenges, and the individual and familial impact of telling one's story. The third presenter will examine the researcher perspective, including the process of balancing and inclusion of survivor-voice in the peer-review publication context and increased depth of understanding from survivor's lived experience. The fourth presenter will review the collaborative perspective (including how it shaped the overall knowledge disseminated) through these lenses. The fifth presenter will discuss how the publishing world can support survivor-researcher writing collaborations, using the case example of the journal Violence Against Women that publishes survivor creative writing alongside research-based writing. Our goal is to create an engaging and meaningful dialogue around survivor-researcher writing collaborations that enhance the use of CBPR and trauma-informed care principles.