A sport research teams’ reflections on conducting emotionally demanding research with the bereaved

This paper explores the experiences of a sport research team (n = 6) who
attended a conference with and then interviewed relatives of athletes
whose deaths were linked to traumatic brain injuries through playing
sport. Afterwards the research team were interviewed to explore the
effects of undertaking such emotionally demanding research. Several
researcher team members (n = 3) also later conducted online interviews
with bereaved relatives who had not attended the conference. These
researchers were re-interviewed to explore how their online experience
was different to conducting in-person interviews. Interviews with the
research team took place with a colleague known to the researchers but
not involved in data collection at the conference. Reflexive thematic
analysis led to the development of five themes: (1) ‘Wow! I don’t know if
we’re ready for this’, (2) the emotional struggle, (3) a vulnerable team, (4)
learning how to take self-care, (5) less emotion but also less connection.
Findings suggest that preparing for bereavement interviews is challenging, that the research team were collectively vulnerable, and that learning to take self-care was important. Online data collection was found to
reduce researcher vulnerability but raised different challenges. Findings
are discussed in relation to the challenges of preparing for sensitive
interviews, the pros and cons associated with deeply connecting with
participants, the importance of self-care and support for researchers, and
the implications of conducting interviews online without having developed pre-established relationships with participants