The Emotional Challenges of Disaster Research: Reflections and Recommendations

Abstract

This article contributes to an emergent area of crisis and disaster scholarship that emphasizes the need to support researchers in coping with the emotional challenges of research. In this article, we use the term emotionally challenging research to describe the moments when researchers are confronted with particular situations or subject matter that causes discomfort, pain, anger, frustration, hopelessness, or other difficult emotions or embodied impacts. Throughout, we provide several illustrations of how such challenges may arise in the process of studying crises or disasters. We argue that the lack of discussion about emotions in disaster research, including attention to the potential for burnout, compassion fatigue, or vicarious trauma, creates undue burdens for researchers and can interfere with the research process. In contrast, inviting explicit discussion and engagement with the emotional and embodied challenges of research can support researchers’ well-being, enhance the ethical dimensions of research, and deepen understanding of the social consequences and dynamics of disasters. We conclude with actionable steps that can be taken to better support graduate students, early career researchers, and others new to the field at the individual, group, and institutional levels. This article ultimately advocates for a more compassionate and ethically responsible approach to academic inquiry into crises and disasters.