Survivors’ experiences of technology-facilitated sexual violence: attending to participant and researcher well-being with trauma-informed approaches

Trauma-informed approaches (TIA) in qualitative research are vital for minimizing participant re-traumatization and addressing physical and emotional risks faced by social science researchers, especially when studying sensitive topics. Though widely used across social sciences, TIA have yet to be applied to technology-facilitated sexual violence (TFSV), which ranges from unsolicited explicit images to physical violence and sexual assault. Regardless of their magnitude, these instances take a cumulative toll and are described by research participants as traumatic. This manuscript outlines our use of TIA in our qualitative exploration of survivors’ experiences of TFSV in three stages: (a) study ideation, (b) data collection, and (c) ongoing support and feedback, to protect both the researchers and participants from re-traumatization. Given the prevalence and impact of trauma amongst our participants and the associated risks for researchers exploring such topics, we explore how adopting TIA is a crucial component of social science research.