Trauma and Violence Informed Research and Evaluation: A Perspective Paper for Mental Health Nursing

There are increasing guides and expectations for being trauma informed in research practices. This perspective paper builds upon this emerging field of literature to consider what it means to be trauma and violence informed in mental health nursing research and evaluation. Being trauma and violence informed requires all the same in-the-moment application of the principles of trauma informed care when engaging with participants or data, while also contextualising trauma in the context of wider social contexts. This includes recognising the role that structural violence plays in compounding and sustaining trauma for groups and individuals. To be trauma and violence informed in research requires attention to the power that research and evaluation hold and ongoing reflection on the implications of the design, measures, outcomes and findings of research and evaluation, while informing all decisions by awareness of trauma and the forms of violence that cause and sustain it.