Learnings from Applying Trauma-Informed Principles to the Research Process
Summary
The last two years of crises demonstrate why researchers and designers must anticipate and plan for trauma as it emerges in our work (and our lives). But how do you move your practice and your organization in a trauma-informed direction? This panel will draw upon our experiences researching sensitive topics and working with marginalized communities to discuss implementing trauma-informed practices in research and design engagements. We will explore the different ways we’ve used trauma-informed concepts to work with, and protect the mental and emotional safety of, the communities we serve. Panelists will also discuss self and team care and ways we’ve advocated for trauma-informed approaches in organizations like Code for America and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Key Insights
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Trauma is stored in the body as sensations, pain, numbness, or dissociation, making it essential to consider physical as well as psychological impacts in research.
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Research language can retraumatize participants; forcing binary gender choices in surveys excludes and harms non-binary and culturally diverse identities.
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Safety and choice are foundational trauma-informed principles that require rethinking question formats and allowing participants to skip sensitive questions.
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Participants are often over-researched, causing psychological harm; researchers must critically assess whether their research is necessary or redundant.
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Participatory research methods empower communities by leveraging insider trust and allowing participants to control how stories are told and shared.
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Consent forms often prioritize organizational legal protection over participant understanding and true consent.
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Trauma affects researchers differently based on identity and positionality; organizations must create supports recognizing intersectional burdens.
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Self-care is not enough; trauma-informed organizations require systemic changes to work environments, power structures, and policies.
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Performative supports like mental health days or therapy stipends without removing bureaucratic barriers fall short of trauma-informed care.
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Effective trauma-informed research integrates pre-, during-, and post-research practices including warm handoffs and clear resource connections.
Notable Quotes
"There are 1.9 billion Google search results for trauma - an exponential increase showing its growing awareness."
"Questions can be weapons; language in research, especially demographic questions, can exclude and retraumatize participants."
"Even offering an 'other' category in gender questions implies the participant deviates from a presumed norm."
"Harm is inevitably caused by research; the question is how do we reduce that harm as much as possible."
"Compensation should be culturally competent and consider all supports participants might need to show up fully."
"True consent means forms and processes designed for human understanding, not just organizational legal protection."
"Over-researching vulnerable populations repeats colonial patterns of extracting trauma without care."
"Research participants doing research in their own communities can create safer, richer research conversations."
"Sharing power and allowing researchers to choose projects creates less traumatic and more equitable workplaces."
"The self-care industry is commodified; true healing requires organizational change, not just personal coping tactics."
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