1st Edition
Trauma-Informed Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health Qualitative Methods
This is the first book to examine trauma research in the context of sport, exercise, and health. It outlines evidence-based, trauma-informed research practices, which qualitative researchers can use when conducting trauma research to prevent causing further harm to participants while maintaining a strengths-based approach.
Featuring the trauma research of leading qualitative sport, exercise, and health researchers from around the world, each chapter showcases the contributors’ trauma research and participant context, followed by the ‘what, why, and how’ of trauma-informed research practices that were implemented. This book includes work from a wide range of contexts, including gender-based violence in sport and coaching, abuse in sport, the aftermath of abuse and violence, physical activity after spinal cord injury, trauma and limb amputation, trauma and homelessness, trauma and autistic adults, and sport for care-experienced youth. It provides researchers interested in working with populations affected by trauma with a qualitative research resource to build on, and highlights new directions in conducting trauma-informed research.
This is important reading for any researcher with an interest in trauma not only in sport, exercise, and health research but also in qualitative research contexts more broadly. It is a valuable resource for anyone working in athlete welfare, sport and exercise psychology, youth sport, sport development, physical activity and health, disability, gender, safeguarding, or social work.
1 Introduction: Trauma-Informed Research Communities in Sport, Exercise, and Health
JENNY McMAHON AND KERRY R. McGANNON
PART I
Trauma and Gender-Based Violence
2 Using a Trauma-Informed Lens in Ballet: A Case Study of One Professional Female Dancer
FIONA J. MOOLA AND ALIXANDRA KRAHN
3 Investigating Gender-Based Violence Experienced by Female Coaches and How Trauma-Informed Research Approaches Were Used to Prevent Further Harm
CHRIS ZEHNTNER, JENNY McMAHON, AND KERRY R. McGANNON
4 Critical Reflection on Research into Women’s Experiences of Gender-Based Violence in Sport: The Application of Trauma-Informed Research Practices
KIRSTY FORSDIKE AND FIONA GILES
PART II
Trauma In, and From Sport
5 Abstracting the Legacy of Abuse in Post-Sport: Using Arts-Based Methods and Friendship as Method to Limit Re-Traumatisation in Abuse and Trauma Research
JENNY McMAHON AND KERRY R. McGANNON
6 Trauma and the Mental Health of Elite Athletes
ANDY SMITH
7 Embracing Trauma-Informed Practices in Athlete Disordered Eating Research
ANTHONY PAPATHOMAS, MARIA LUISA PEREIRA VARGAS, AND ERIN PRIOR
8 Researching Abuse in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics: A Trauma-Informed Approach
NATALIE BARKER-RUCHTI
PART III
Trauma and Disability, Injury, Chronic, and Life-Threatening Diagnosis
9 Trauma-Informed Narrative Interviewing after Limb Amputation: Learning to Put on the Brakes
MELISSA DAY AND ROSS WADEY
10 Trauma and Spinal Cord Injury: Reflections from Research into Physical Activity and Sport
TONI LOUISE WILLIAMS AND JAMES BRIGHTON
11 Interview and Arts-Based Approaches for Research with Autistic Adults
PATRICK JACHYRA, JAMES McLEOD, AND SIMON ROSENBAUM
PART IV
Developmental Trauma and Youth Trauma
12 Researching with Care-Experienced Young People in Sport and Physical Activity: Methodological Reflections and the Need for a Trauma-Aware Lens
THOMAS QUARMBY, RACHEL SANDFORD, AND OLIVER HOOPER
13 Using Narrative Inquiry to Understand Street Soccer Players’ Experiences of Trauma, Social Exclusion, and Homelessness
JORDAN A. DONNELLY, MEREDITH A. WHITLEY, DARYL T. COWAN, AND SARA McLAUGHLIN
14 Development Despite Trauma: Critical Reflections on Our Research Journey with Sport Participants
WILLIAM V. MASSEY AND MEREDITH A. WHITLEY
15 Future Directions in Trauma-Informed Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health
KERRY R. McGANNON AND JENNY McMAHON
Biography
Jenny McMahon is an Associate Professor in Education at the University of Tasmania, Australia. Before moving into academia, she was an elite swimmer who represented Australia at an international level, winning numerous medals. Her research centres on using qualitative methodologies such as creative analytical practices, visual methods, and narrative inquiry to explore trauma, athlete abuse, and education interventions in sport to bring about social change.
Kerry R. McGannon is a Professor in Kinesiology and Health Sciences at Laurentian University, Canada. Her research program centres qualitative methodologies (e.g., narrative inquiry, discourse analysis) to understand sport and exercise participation. Specific streams of this work explore cultural influences on identity and critical interpretations of sport and exercise. She is also Co-Editor of the journal Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health.
