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
Professional Background
• 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
Research background
• Qualitative tradition
• Ethnography: boundaries and relational aspects of care
• Connectivity – arts and narrative
• Practice ‘applied’ focused
• Domestic and family violence
• Gender based violence
Background to research
• 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
UK research context…
• 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 Home Office 2013 Definition of
domestic violence and abuse
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
…
Background to research
• 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)
Research to date
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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
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The development of learning and teaching resources
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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)
Sensitive research
• 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
Approaches to research
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Interviews
Focus group
Observation
Workshops
Narrative
Proximity
• 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).
Roles and boundaries
• Insider-outsider
• Confidentiality and safeguarding
• Role conflict
• Nature of relationship
Impact or ‘emotional risk’
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Emotional labour
Vicarious trauma
Isolation and confidentiality
Separation of home and work
“Unpreparedness”
Ethical issues around vulnerability and “giving
voice”
Impact and support
• Supervision and support
• Close liaison with agencies
• ‘Mitigation’
Selected reading
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Stanko, E. & Lee, R. (2003) Methodological reflections. In Lee, R & Stanko, E. (eds) Researching Violence.
Oxon: Routledge