Supporting Research Staff Working With People Experiencing Homelessness: Integrating Trauma-Informed and Resilience-Building Approaches Into Community-Engaged Research Studies

Traumatic experiences are highly prevalent among people experiencing homelessness who face structural inequities, which may impact engagement in research. Research staff ("staff") working with people experiencing homelessness are under-equipped to cope with structural inequities and the trauma present in participants' lives, even if they are well-trained in the regulatory aspects of the research process. Six staff involved in tobacco cessation intervention research with people experiencing homelessness described their experiences and highlighted areas of training to integrate trauma-informed and resilience-building approaches to support field staff and people experiencing homelessness. We identified three themes: (a) impact of trauma on the research process; (b) the importance of engagement with community partners and participants; and (b) the need for a field worker's guide. Staff described being the bearers of participants' traumas, while also coping with their own vicarious traumatization. Staff believed they would benefit from a fieldworker's guide that includes best practices for engagement with community partners as well as trauma-informed approaches like training in trauma-informed care and tools to address vicarious traumatization. Resilience-building approaches include real-time debriefing to celebrate successes and troubleshoot problems in the field. Training in resilience-building can be integrated as part of the general training required of all research staff prior to conducting intervention research studies with people experiencing homelessness. These approaches may need institutional support to be integrated into standard research workflows. In doing so, they may not only safeguard research staff and participants but also promote research as a means to dismantle inequities by being inclusive, safe, and empowering.