Trauma-Informed Empathic Inquiry (TIEI): An Integrative Framework for Qualitative Research with Immigrants

Background and Purpose: This study uses Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to center immigrant parents’ lived experiences through an in-depth, interpretive process that honors participant voice and researcher reflexivity. IPA is well-suited for working with migrant communities because it prioritizes participants’ meaning-making by creating space for deep reflection on lived experience, while the researcher engages in a double-hermeneutic interpretive process. This presentation is further grounded in culturally responsive qualitative approaches that attend to the structural conditions shaping migrant communities, situating individuals’ meaning-making within broader sociopolitical and transnational contexts. This methods-focused presentation describes an integrated, trauma-informed, and community-engaged qualitative approach for research with immigrant parents that can advance more responsive, impactful inclusive and equitable knowledge production in a democratic society.

Methods: The study integrates principles of Community-Based Participatory Research through a community-informed advisory board, intentional trust-building, and shared knowledge production that recognizes participants as experts in their own lives. Ten parents participated in the study. This study led to the development of an innovative framework, Trauma-Informed Empathic Inquiry for Immigrant Research (TIEI), which combines trauma-informed and self psychology principles, emphasizing emotional safety, cultural responsiveness, and relational, empathic attunement while conducting research with migrant communities. Trauma-informed interviewing practices shaped the research design, including intentional pacing, grounding strategies, ongoing consent, and attentiveness to verbal and non-verbal cues to reduce the risk of re-traumatization. Drawing from self psychological concepts, the interview process centers participants’ needs for mirroring, validation, and recognition to support the articulation of experiences shaped by rupture, resilience, and repair.

An arts-based integration prompt was incorporated as a key methodological innovation, recognizing that trauma is not always fully accessible through language. By inviting participants to engage in visual and symbolic expression, the study opens additional pathways for meaning-making, allowing complex emotional experiences to surface in ways that extend beyond traditional narrative approaches. Interviews were conducted at public libraries, positioning libraries as accessible, trusted, and non-stigmatizing community space for engaging immigrants in research. This setting aligns with community-engaged principles of meeting participants where they are and leveraging existing community resources as sites of support, safety, and connection.

Results: Preliminary analytic reflections highlight how the TIEI framework and arts-based integration prompt deeper narrative richness, support participants’ emotional regulation, and foster a sense of dignity and recognition during the interview process. The use of a library setting and community advisory input strengthened trust, increased participation, and helped anchor the research in community priorities. Reflexive writing, peer consultation, and structured analytic procedures were used to navigate the emotional demands of studying trauma, particularly when research intersects with lived experience, and to sustain both rigor and care.

Implications: This work advances a model of trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and community-engaged qualitative inquiry with immigrant parents. It illustrates how integrating IPA with trauma-informed empathic interviewing, relational practices, arts-based methods, and public libraries can expand methodological possibilities, reduce harm, and honor the expertise of immigrant communities. The presentation will offer practical guidance for researchers interested in adapting these strategies in their own work with migrants and other populations.