Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Self-care in User Research (Videoconference)
Thursday, April 2, 2020 • Advancing Research Community
Share the love for this talk
Self-care in User Research (Videoconference)
Speakers: Jane Reid and Janice Hannaway
Link:

Summary

Exposure to others’ trauma is toxic. This is known as 'vicarious trauma' and it's what happens to people who hear harrowing stories as part of their work.  User researchers are often faced with situations where they need to conduct repeated in-depth interviews with people who’ve had traumatic experiences and who have developed PSTD, mental health issues, chronic illness, addiction, self-harm, eating disorders and suicidal thoughts. We believe this repeated exposure puts the psychological safety of user researchers at risk. Training to equip people with the right skills and confidence to prepare for and handle these situations is often absent from user research training.

Key Insights

  • 85% of user researchers report experiencing mental health issues, with 70% saying it affects their work.

  • User researchers in public sector face repeated exposure to traumatic content such as domestic abuse, sexual violence, homelessness, and addiction.

  • Typical six-month research cycles can involve over 130 interviews and numerous stakeholder meetings, increasing emotional fatigue risks.

  • Preparing user researchers focuses heavily on logistics and user safety but often neglects the researchers' psychological preparation.

  • Lack of training on handling sensitive disclosures causes researchers to freeze or respond inappropriately, risking harm to participants and themselves.

  • Transference, common in therapeutic settings, can also occur unknowingly between researchers and participants, risking crossed professional boundaries.

  • Acts of kindness by researchers toward participants outside professional roles, like providing food or shelter, may be well-meaning but professionally unsafe.

  • Clinical supervision or group reflection is essential to help researchers process emotional responses and prevent burnout or vicarious trauma.

  • COVID-19 has amplified vulnerability and traumatic exposure for both researchers and participants, requiring even greater focus on self-care.

  • A 10-step self-care guide includes knowing personal biases, preparing for disclosures, maintaining boundaries, and gaining permission to end interviews when necessary.

Notable Quotes

"85% of user researchers had suffered from mental health issues and 70% say they had actually affected their work."

"We put a huge amount of preparation into preparing for user research but we don't tend to prepare ourselves as user researchers."

"We have to teach people how to prepare for and respond to difficult conversations when they occur during interviews."

"In six months you can be exposed to traumatic content over approximately 132 sessions, putting user researchers at risk of burnout and vicarious trauma."

"User researchers are often exposed to trauma repeatedly and have barely any time to recover before their next interview."

"Transference can happen in the professional relationship between a user researcher and a participant, risking crossed boundaries."

"Acts of kindness by user researchers, like taking participants to food banks, may not be appropriate within their professional role."

"Bottling up emotional responses leads to burnout or trauma; we must recognize warning signs and seek support early."

"You need permission to end an interview if you feel it has changed or become unsafe, you can do that respectfully."

"It's better to be honest with participants about not being the right person to provide support, and offer to refer them instead."

Ask the Rosenbot
Rachel Posman
A Closer Look at Team Ops and Product Ops (Two Sides of the DesignOps Coin) (Videoconference)
2020 • DesignOps Community
Alicia Mooty
Design Staffing Models
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Bria Alexander
OKRs—Helpful or Harmful? (Videoconference)
2022 • DesignOps Community
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Lada Gorlenko
Theme 1: Intro
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Frances Yllana
DesignOps–Leading the Path to Parity (Videoconference)
2023 • DesignOps Community
Charlotte Lee
Theme 1 Intro
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Kim Fellman Cohen
Measuring the Designer Experience
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
DesignOps and The Great Talent War of 2021 (Videoconference)
2021 • DesignOps Community
Hugh Dubberly
Problems with Problems: Reconsidering the Frame of Designing as Problem-Solving (Videoconference)
2019 • Enterprise Community
Teresa Swingler
Look, Up in the Sky! UX/UI for Aerospace (Videoconference)
2022 • Enterprise Community
Bria Alexander
The Big Question about Resilience: A panel discussion
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Mark Interrante
Collaboration Flows in Product Development
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
How AI will Change DesignOps Tooling
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Smitha Papolu
Theme 3 Discussion
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Neil Barrie
Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold

More Videos

"If design didn’t move the needle, we wouldn’t be having this conversation."

Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone

June 15, 2018

Simon Wardley

"Building a map is like learning to play chess—you have to see the board to decide your move."

Simon Wardley

Maps and Topographical Intelligence (Videoconference)

January 31, 2019

Sandra Camacho

"The Reflexive Compass helps us discern bias patterns early, take accountability, and measure impact."

Sandra Camacho

Creating More Bias-Proof Designs

January 22, 2025

Darian Davis

"When fellow co-workers label an individual as difficult, it’s hard not to treat that person as a problem."

Darian Davis

Lessons from a Toxic Work Relationship

January 8, 2024

Fisayo Osilaja

"My goal today is to showcase how generative AI can go beyond just speeding up our processes and actually catapult us in our career."

Fisayo Osilaja

[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist

June 4, 2024

Uday Gajendar

"The seven-foot-wide diagram showed the product’s true complexity, sparking necessary conversations with leadership."

Uday Gajendar

The Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX

May 13, 2015

Davis Neable

"We formed a small core task force empowered to make decisions to avoid delays from formal reviews."

Davis Neable Guy Segal

How to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team

June 10, 2021

Eniola Oluwole

"TripAdvisor is really nine major business units each thinking like sub companies instead of one end-to-end user experience."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Aurobinda Pradhan

"Design Ops people want to standardize processes and reuse organizational knowledge for clarity and confidence."

Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank Deshpande

Introduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts

September 9, 2022