Staying safe: strategies for qualitative child abuse researchers

Undertaking interview‐based research with victim/survivors of child abuse can be difficult and challenging for researchers. Much has been written about the impact of research on participants, but researcher effects are less explored. This paper reviews the literature on sensitive interview‐based research and child abuse research. The theoretical underpinnings of researcher trauma are outlined and challenges identified and related to child abuse research using researcher reflections from the authors' interview‐based research with children who have been abused and young mothers who were sexually abused in childhood. Strategies and recommendations are developed to minimise child abuse researcher trauma. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.