The
introduction to the special issue starts with a literature review with
particular focus on distinguishing between the key terms and concepts of
burnout, compassion and empathy fatigue. By looking at past studies,
the author notes that vicarious trauma, secondary trauma, indirect
trauma and secondary traumatic stress disorder are often used by working
professionals and interchangeably; however the use of the concepts in
the field-based social science research needs methodological adjustments
and theoretical reconsideration. In the second part, she reflects on
the evidence collected during the workshop ‘The Cost of Bearing Witness:
Secondary Trauma and Self-Care in Field-Based Social Research’ which
was held at the University of Turku, Finland, in October 2018. During
the workshop participating researchers and practitioners discussed some
of the most striking obstacles and challenges of the research work in
the traumatized settings. On the basis of the ideas collected and
shared, the authors synthetize some concrete suggestions for preventive
and self-care techniques and ways to enhance overall the institutional
and systematic support available to researchers exposed to trauma.