D-Adjustments

Abraham, 

Thank you for sharing your reflection on phenomenological research and some of the findings that were most relevant to you. 

If you plan to conduct a phenomenological study, then you will not use an instrument such as STSS. For qualitative approaches, questions are open-ended and encourage narratives that put together a story about the phenomenon.  With an instrument such as STSS, you can see that the goal is to create numerical data that would be statistically analyzed to determine some level of significance. 

Here are a few theoretical models that would inform the insight you are seeking:

Lazarus and Folkman’s Transactional Model of Stress and Coping. This psychological framework explains how individuals appraise and respond to stressful situations. It’s particularly relevant for understanding coping strategies in high-stress roles. You would apply by developing questions around primary and secondary appraisal (perceived threat vs. perceived control), analyzing coping responses (problem-focused vs. emotion-focused) and examining how forensic interviewers adapt over time to repeated exposure to trauma.

Compassion Fatigue and Vicarious Trauma Frameworks. These frameworks are tailored to professions exposed to secondary trauma, such as forensic interviewers who work with victims of abuse. In the phenomenological interview, you would investigate signs of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and reduced personal accomplishment. You could explore protective factors (e.g., peer support, supervision, personal resilience) or seek to understand how interviewers maintain empathy while protecting their own well-being.

Stay focused on creating your persuasive argument, highlighting the gap in knowledge or the expressed need for further research from recent empirical sources. 

If you use this search term in the LU library, you will get a few more relevant articles that you can review: compassion fatigue of forensic interviewers