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Work Factors and Trauma Exposure
professionals have been in the field of student affairs longer; however, they may directly
supervise a team of professionals (Rosser & Javinar, 2003) and may be involved in
trauma helping work through their supervision (Lynch, 2019).
One way to make sense of this tension is to more closely examine mid-level professionals'
experience. They are not only responsible for providing good supervision for
new professionals (which may be a job demand for them, but a job resource for those
they supervise), and they may be most involved in helping work through this supervision,
but they may not have the necessary job resources from their supervisor (likely
a senior student affairs officer) to balance out these high supervisory demands. This
result indicates that good supervision matters and is a strong job resource (McCann &
Pearlman, 1990). To draw stronger conclusions, more research is needed to disaggregate
supervision and years in the profession. Ultimately, however, many professionals
in HRL may be experiencing burnout.
The last research question investigated whether or not exposure to trauma significantly
contributes to burnout. Although participating in trauma helping work did statistically
contribute to burnout, its contribution was small. This result can be interpreted
in a few ways. Though exposure to trauma through helping others may not practically
contribute to the burnout HRL professionals are experiencing, this exposure may not be
meaningfully different from the pressure of job demands. HRL professionals may view
the work related to helping someone as simply a significant job demand, not as a separate
experience worthy of exploration. These professionals may not have the mental and
emotional space to process how trauma exposure may be affecting them either positively
or negatively. This interpretation of the results aligns with and advances the current
student affairs research suggesting that frequent and consistent trauma exposure can
have a negative effect on the professional helper (Lynch & Glass, 2019). Student affairs
organizations (e.g., departments, divisions, and professional organizations) have a role
in allowing professionals to view trauma helping work not just as a job demand, but
also as a separate influence on their experiences. These systems-level interventions may
help these professionals experience post-traumatic growth instead of burnout.
IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE
Since this study examined burnout through an organizational lens, it is most appropriate
that implications for practice focus on the systems level: departments, divisions,
and professional organizations. Since job demands and job resources have the most
influence on burnout, HRL departments and divisions should closely examine high
. . . HRL professionals who respond to a cognitively and emotionally
demanding situation should receive post-situation support provided by
the coaching and feedback of peers, colleagues, and supervisors.
46 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

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