Vicarious Trauma, Emotional Intelligence, and The Impact On Job Satisfaction In Residence Life Stafftle

Keywords

vicarious trauma; trauma; emotional intelligence; job satifaction; secondary trauma

Abstract

"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds." -Laurell K. Hamilton, Due to the proximity of working with and engaging students, residence life staff members, have a unique work experience. This functional area of student affairs is responding to myriad student needs. Staff are responding to varying levels of campus emergencies, student illness, and assault (physical or sexual) on a given workday or workweek (Ojo & Thomas, 2012). One study found college students' on-campus lifestyle and routine activities can create opportunities for victimization (Fisher, Sloan, Cullen, Lu, & 1998). What cumulative impact does responding to these victimizations have on residence life staff members? This study will investigate the relationship between the exposures to vicarious trauma, considering emotional intelligence as a mitigating factor to explain job satisfaction of residence life staff members. Taking a closer look at how the continued exposure to victimization of others (in this case students), the individual's job satisfaction provides context to burnout and attrition, specifically in residence life professionals. Understanding how secondary exposure can impact a professional is a concern that has been studied in other professions such as nursing, social work, and mental health counseling. The findings have provided invaluable insight to the professional's experience. This study will attempt to do the same by exploring how these three variables interact with each other, through the use of three scales, Vicarious Trauma Scale (VTS), Genos-Emotional Intelligence Inventory (Genos-I), and Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS).

Date Created

August 2016

https://works.bepress.com/lynell-hodge/2/download/

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