Marisa Westbrook Presents Trauma-Informed Research Methods at International Conference
Marisa Westbrook, PhD MPH, Assistant Professor of Health Promotion and Community Health at the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health, recently presented her research at the World Conference on Qualitative Research in Madrid, Spain. Her presentation, titled “Trauma Informed Approaches to Researcher-Participant Relationships: Examples from a Community-Based Housing and Health Study,” was delivered on January 21, 2026 and highlighted innovative approaches to qualitative research grounded in health equity and social justice.
Westbrook’s work explores how trauma-informed care (TIC)—a framework commonly used in mental health and social work—can be applied to qualitative research practices.
Trauma-informed approaches acknowledge the impact of violence, victimization, and structural inequities in people’s lives, while emphasizing safety, trust, and empowerment. When integrated into research methods, these principles can help foster authentic relationships between researchers and participants, minimize the risk of re-traumatization, and ensure that underrepresented voices are not excluded from the research process.
Drawing from a community-based housing and health study and training from Trauma Informed Oregon, Westbrook and her coauthors examine how a trauma-informed lens can help researchers orient towards the relational considerations that impact their work, whether specific traumas are a focus of the work or not. The presentation emphasized how these approaches can strengthen rapport with participants, uncover cultural context, and improve participant and researcher experiences. Their work underscores the importance of aligning research practices with the values of health equity and social justice – ensuring that research not only generates knowledge, but does so in ways that honor and respect the people who make it possible.
The presentation was coauthored by Jade Garza, MPH graduate; Chrissy Jenkins, a current undergraduate student in Social Work and PSU FORWARD Scholar; and Judith Solomon, a graduate of the Public Health & Spanish undergraduate programs. These students are current and former members of the SPH HOUSE (Housing & Health Opportunities for Social Equity) Research Lab supervised by Dr. Westbrook.