Interviewing people about potentially sensitive topics

Rakime Elmir, Virginia Schmied, Debra Jackson, Lesley Wilkes

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    145 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    This paper explores the challenges of interviewing people about sensitive topics. It uses existing literature and the first author's experience of interviewing women traumatised by having an emergency hysterectomy following a severe postpartum haemorrhage. It also highlights the strategies that can assist interviews. Interviewing participants about sensitive topics requires skill and special techniques. Certain research topics have the potential to cause participants and researchers distress and discomfort. Identifying ways to prevent vicarious traumatisation and researcher burnout is imperative to the integrity of the research. Twenty one Australian women took part in in-depth, tape-recorded, face-to-face, email, internet and telephone interviews. This is a methodology paper on the first author's experience of interviewing women on potentially sensitive topics. Some participants may find telling their stories to be cathartic, providing them with a sense of relief. Implementing techniques that may be helpful in initiating the interview process can be challenging.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)12-16
    Number of pages6
    JournalNurse researcher
    Volume19
    Issue number1
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • Australia
    • hysterectomy
    • interviewing
    • interviews
    • psychological aspects
    • stress, psychological
    • women

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