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This paper advances what is known about emotional experiences and challenges when researching work-caused trauma in organisations and illustrates learning for researchers of work-related trauma. Viewing vulnerability as strength could be conceived as an oxymoron. The paper explains how vulnerability can lead to strength for researchers/participants and focuses on researcher reflexivity in relation to one interview with a woman leader in a small-scale qualitative study.

The research protocols of the qualitative study are outlined: pre-interview briefings, participant journaling and semi-structured interviews. Researcher reflexivity, following Hibbert's (2021) four levels of reflexive practice (embodied, emotional, rational and relational), is applied to an interview with a woman leader.

The paper illustrates how research design and recognising vulnerability as strength facilitates considerable relational work and emotional experiences. Researcher reflexivity conveys impact of work-caused trauma on participants and researchers. The paper advances understandings of vulnerability as strength in practice, emotional experiences and challenges of work-caused trauma research.

In this paper, a single case of researcher reflexivity is considered.

There are practical implications for researcher relationships with participants; demonstrating emotional awareness; responding to traumatic stories, participant distress and impact on the researcher; issues of vicarious/secondary traumatic stress; having safe psychological systems; scaffolding a process which recognises vulnerability as strength and becoming personally and methodologically vulnerable; risk of embodied and emotional impact; commitment to reflexivity and levels of reflexive practice.

There is lack of researcher reflexive accounts of practice when studying trauma. Few scholars suggest ways to support researchers in challenging and difficult research. There is silence in research exploring leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma. This paper provides a reflexive account in practice from a unique study of women leaders' experiences of work-caused trauma.

Undertaking qualitative research exploring experiences of trauma can be challenging for all members of a research team. The aim of this article is to document the key challenges faced by researchers and to provide an overview of the key guidelines and processes that have been developed.

Drawing on a range of empirical and published reflective accounts over the past 20 years, this article documents the key challenges researchers undertaking qualitative research face. These accounts are synthesized for the reader and an overview of research guidelines provided.

Qualitative researchers and members of the research team (including research assistants, transcriptionists and research supervisors) undertaking trauma research face many challenges including physical and emotional manifestations. Despite the development of a range of guidelines and protocols, formalized processes are still lacking. Researchers need to be supported to consider the impact of the research on themselves and others within the research team and include these assessments in their ethics and funding applications.

Researching trauma (like many other topics) can be challenging for researchers and it is important that we ensure researchers are not harmed in the research process. Adopting guidelines like those presented in this paper and encouraging formalized processes for researcher risk assessments are paramount.

Discussions about risk to researchers when undertaking qualitative research have existed for many years but they have not always resulted in acknowledgement of development of supportive processes. By bringing together empirical research and reflective accounts from a range of disciplines the issues researchers face can become more visible.

Specifically, the authors discuss three challenges that researchers—especially graduate students—often face: (1) access to adequate material and guidance for researchers; (2) the internal and external strains researchers may face, and (3) the limited conceptualization of research on sensitive topics or vulnerable populations. Although these three challenges may be present for many graduate students and junior scholars, it is important to acknowledge that scholars face many challenges beyond the ones discussed in this note.

This note will specifically address challenges that arise for graduate students and junior scholars, and we suggest possible strategies to navigate this type of research.

The authors encourage comprehensive approaches taken by institutions, enacted via advocacy from the field. Professional organizations can create a valuable, ongoing forum for such discussions by including the topic of researcher trauma within workshops, discussion sessions, conference tracks, journals, and newsletters. Second, the topic of researcher trauma must be introduced early and often in graduate training, including planned meaningful coverage in methodology courses, textbooks, and professional training. Third, researchers at all levels should carefully reflect on how their own line of inquiry and their routine research practices could impart trauma.

While ethical principles center on protecting human research participants, risks of trauma experienced by researchers are not consistently addressed in the context of methodological training or human-subjects internal review board and ethics committees' consideration. Although many researchers engage in work that can cause the researcher trauma, few studies address the experiences of researchers in depth, especially the experiences of graduate students or junior scholars.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon how encountering trauma unexpectedly in the field informs the doing of fieldwork.

A reflexive essay approach was adopted to explore traumatic incidents in extreme contexts. Written vignettes, interviews, field notes and information conversations served as the bases for reflections.

Four themes arose from the reflections (Bracketing, Institutional Pressure, Impact on Research and Unresolvedness). It was suggested that researchers engaged in extreme context research, and management and organization studies scholars engaged in dangerous fieldwork more broadly, are under institutional pressure to continue work that may put themselves in harm's way. Traumatic experiences also shape and reflect the researcher's identity, which informs choices about current and future research projects.

It was suggested that scholars will benefit from reading the accounts of others to reduce the burden of isolation that can accompany traumatic field experiences.

Exploring single traumatic events enabled in engaging with trauma encountered unexpectedly and directly in the field. The reflections reveal the effects of psychological and physical trauma on researchers, and highlight how trauma impacts the research process.

This article examines personal performances of vicarious trauma (VT) related to the Ocean Ranger Disaster. It investigates the extent to which the self is at stake in passionate storytelling about tragic consequences of extreme work.

Dramaturgical concepts of self-presentation and impression management are used as a qualitative lens to provide an alternative view of published trauma stories arising from emotional research interviews.

The catastrophic disaster created secondary traumatization for families and friends of extreme workers lost at sea. This article shows that research interviews of these disaster survivors are opportunities for participants to engage in dramatic storytelling. The paper also reflects on related (problematic) storytelling by the trauma researcher.

The article provides a theory illustration using dramaturgy as an alternative theoretical perspective to document previously under-appreciated aspects of the Ocean Ranger case. The discussion causes us to think about research interviews in a way that past research would not normally suggest.

The Ocean Ranger Disaster continues to be a remarkable source of sorrow for the people of Newfoundland. This research provides a needed contrast to the numerous positivist, and overwhelmingly technological, studies of the disaster.

The research tradition of dramaturgy is a useful lens to apply to the expanding field of trauma studies. VT is rarely a subject of direct discussion in the management and organization studies (MOS) literature. This paper is among the first to consider storytelling interviews from a VT perspective.

To outline the critical role of the sporting context in traumatic experiences, exploring sport as a catalyst to traumatic experiences and as part of the recovery process. In doing this, the chapter also aims to review the qualitative literature on trauma and provide recommendations for future research directions.

The chapter begins by asking two key questions: what silences some stories of trauma in sport and what stories are valued above others? In answering these questions, the qualitative literature is discussed with particular reference to how voice is given to stories of trauma.

Trauma may be silenced by the particular norms and values that exist within sport, creating a culture in which athletes and coaches alike fear to speak out. As a consequence, trauma stories are not voiced but avoided, a strategy that is not conducive to good mental health. The difficulties in coping with trauma may then become ameliorated by the dominance and expectation of stories of growth through adversity.

Creative strategies for allowing athletes to voice stories of trauma are discussed, including the use of visual and written methods.

The area of trauma in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) is an important area given the substantial rates of abuse endured by these individuals. However, there are issues with the identification of trauma, understanding how it is perceived, and manifested. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The limited research regarding trauma in ASD is reviewed and gaps are identified.

The key findings from the relevant literature are discussed.

Practical suggestions are outlined for more effective identification of trauma in individuals with ASD.

To date, there has been relatively little research on trauma and ASD. This paper emphasises the urgent need for attention in this area.

The purpose of this scoping rapid review was to identify and analyse existing qualitative methodologies that have been used to investigate K-12 teachers' lived experiences of adult cyber abuse as a result of student content “going viral” to propose a novel methodological stance incorporating the Australian Online Safety Act 2021.

A search of Google Scholar was conducted using keywords and phrases related to cyber trauma, teachers, qualitative methods and the Online Safety Act. Inclusion criteria for the review were: (1) published in English, (2) focused on teachers' experiences of online abuse and cyberbullying associated with viral posts and (3) employed a qualitative inquiry methodology. Full-text articles were obtained for those that met the inclusion criteria. Data were extracted and analysed using a PRISMA flowchart and inductive thematic analysis.

This methodology is considered to be justified, as the eSafety Commissioner's Safety-by-Design principles do not have any legal or regulatory enforceability, whereas the Online Safety Act 2021 provides the Australian eSafety Commissioner an avenue to drive greater algorithmic transparency and accountability.

The findings of this review informed the development of a novel methodological stance for investigating Australian teachers' lived experiences of adult cyber abuse associated with viral posts. It provides a methodological positioning to support trauma informed qualitative research into adult cyber abuse, informed by the work of the eSafety Commissioner and the Online Safety Act.

Cybertrauma is described as “any trauma that is a result of self- or, other-directed interaction with, mediated through, or from any electronic Internet/cyberspace ready device or machine learning algorithm, that results in impact now or the future” (Knibbs, 2021). It may result from the tracking of movement through various mobile phone features and applications such as location sharing, non-consensual monitoring of social media, and humiliation or punishment through the sharing of intimate images online, through to direct messages of abuse or threats of violence or humiliation. These actions are further perpetuated through automated searches, insights and recommendations on social media (i.e. engagement metrics promote memes, Facebook posts, Tweets, Tiktoks, Youtubes and so on). This is a novel methodology, as it not only considers direct cybertrauma but also automated forms of cybertrauma.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an American healthcare organization's experience creating the first multi-facility trauma system managed by a private, nonprofit organization.

A leadership structure was established to initiate the first steps of system development, followed by needs assessments that identified key components essential to creating the interconnected system. The key components were applied as a result of evidence-based system development. After system implementation, early benefits were explored.

Data collection and research, prehospital support, system-wide quality improvement, rural outreach, communication, and system evaluation were identified as key components essential to creating an interconnected trauma system. The system currently connects 12 trauma centers throughout the state of Colorado while working within the parameters of an established statewide system. Early benefits included improved designation review results, the utilization of system-wide best practice protocols, a rich trauma registry, and closer relations with rural, out-of-network facilities.

This study describes the process undertaken to implement a unique medical system that provides regionalized care and complements an existing statewide trauma system. The authors hope their experience may serve as a roadmap for healthcare professionals wishing to develop an integrated, patient-centered model of care.

The development of this multi-facility trauma system within a private, not-for-profit healthcare organization is the first of its kind.