Trauma-informed phone interviews: Learning from the COVID-19 quarantine

ABSTRACT

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and associated lockdowns have significantly affected populations with prior trauma histories, as well as research studies with trauma survivors. This article describes the transition from in-person to virtual research during the first COVID-19 lockdown in Uganda in 2020. The lockdown occurred during an evaluation study of a trauma-informed yoga intervention (hartyoga .org) with survivors of human trafficking residing in shelters. We discuss strategies taken and lessons learned in conducting virtual intervention and interview sessions with trauma survivors. Approaches we found to be particularly important included preinterview calls with participants;intense active listening for changes in tone, cadence, and background noises;reacquiring informed consent at multiple points in the interview;actively engaging interviewees as partners in ensuring ethical guidelines;and ensuring support for research team members to avoid burnout or secondary trauma. We believe that these strategies have relevance for other virtual or telephone research studies with trauma survivors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)