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Work Factors and Trauma Exposure
PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship among work factors (i.e.,
exposure to trauma, job demands, and job resources) and individual factors (i.e., gender,
race, number of supervisees, and years in the profession) and burnout in HRL
professionals who have critical helping roles during crisis situations. According to the
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,
Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that
is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening
and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual's functioning and mental,
physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being. (2014, p. 7)
When campus housing professionals help students through a crisis, they can also suffer
traumatic effects. The five most frequently cited traumatic experiences that student
affairs professionals helped students through are (a) death of a loved one, (b) sexual
violence, (c) suicidal ideation/attempt, (d) severe mental health episodes, and (e) hate
crime/discrimination (Lynch & Glass, 2019).
CONSEQUENCES OF TRAUMA EXPOSURE DUE TO HELPING WORK
While helping students during crises, housing and residence life professionals can
experience some measure of compassion satisfaction-the positive feelings and experiences
of effectively helping others (Stamm, 2010)-and even post-traumatic growth
(Collier, 2016), but frequent and consistent exposure to trauma can also have significant
negative effects: compassion fatigue (Figley, 2002), secondary traumatic stress
(Lynch & Glass, 2019), and burnout (Mullen et al., 2018; Rosser & Javinar, 2003; Tull,
2014). This paper focuses on better understanding the negative consequences of the
kind of helping work that HRL professionals perform.
Secondary traumatic stress is " the stress resulting from helping or wanting to help
a traumatized or suffering person " (Figley, 1995, p. xiv). Barnes (2013) identified a continuum
of traumatic stress that starts with either directly experiencing or witnessing a
traumatic event or helping others who are experiencing the traumatic event. The next
place on Barnes' continuum of traumatic stress is the experience of secondary trauma.
This form of trauma can develop into compassion fatigue and burnout-and burnout
can then exacerbate a helper's compassion fatigue, resulting in additional secondary
trauma. Organizational trauma can occur when helping professionals within the same
When helping students through crises, housing and residence life professionals
can experience some measure of compassion satisfaction-the positive feelings
and experiences of effectively helping others-and even post-traumatic growth,
but frequent and consistent exposure to trauma can also have significant
negative effects: compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and burnout.
36 The Journal of College and University Student Housing
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