Methods: This community case study was the result of a collaboration between the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI), Healing and Resilience after Trauma (HaRT), and the University of
Alabama. This study focused on research conducted in 2020 as part of a mixed-methods evaluation of the ‘Move with HaRT’ program. Four research team members were interviewed by an external representative from SVRI. Interview questions included the challenges of conducting research on violence and trauma, how the research team integrated collective care into the planning, design, and implementation of the research study, and the impact that these strategies had on researcher wellbeing. Interviews were recorded and detailed notes from each interview were then analyzed thematically.
Results: The result of this case study was the identification of seven specific collective care strategies to apply during the research process with the intent of limiting and preventing the development of vicarious trauma. Collective care can be defined as activities meant to attend to and nurture well-being with an emphasis on appreciating the influence of the external environment. This leads to promoting health and well-being as a shared responsibility, rather than the task of a singular individual. Examples of strategies identified in the study include: comprehensive preparatory training, trauma-informed workload management, and building community and solidarity outside the research process.
Conclusions and Implications: While individualized self-care strategies are important, it is necessary to recognize that these may not always be enough to ensure the researcher's well-being. Collective care practices play an important role in reducing the risk of vicarious trauma and creating a supportive work environment. This case study highlights practical implications and suggestions that can be useful to other research teams, and ethics review committees, in reducing vicarious trauma and promoting researcher wellbeing as an essential component of all VAW and VAC research studies.