Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Situational Stress Factors and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Resident Assistants

Sorensen, Erik A
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3805-7059
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1532678812601448

Abstract Details

2018, Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, Educational Leadership.
Although there is a large body of literature exploring Secondary Traumatic Stress (STS), a type of indirect stress that affects people who are helping others, very few studies describe this phenomenon among resident assistants (RAs). The purpose of this study was to quantify STS among RAs and explore what factors in the RA position might influence STS. STS was measured by the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) survey. A second purpose of the study was to examine if supervisor support, measured by the Supportive Supervisory Scale (SSS), affected the relationship between STS and stress related to the RA position, as measured by the Resident Assistant Stress Inventory (RASI). This study found that RAs in this sample did experience STS, and that stress related to adjusting one’s life to the RA position, stress related to addressing large groups of students, the frequency of dealing with crisis, and ethnicity all contributed to higher STS. Supervisor support contributed to lower STS. Supervisor support also affected the relationship between stress in the RA position and STS, for each of six situational stress factors related to the RA position. Implications for practitioners are discussed in an effort to best support RAs in their position as well as inform future research on RAs and STS.
Kathy Goodman (Committee Chair)
David Perez II (Committee Member)
Andy Saultz (Committee Member)
April Smith (Committee Member)
115 p.
Educational Leadership; Higher Education
Secondary Traumatic Stress; Resident Assistant; RAs; Supervisor Support

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Sorensen, E. A. (2018). Situational Stress Factors and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Resident Assistants [Doctoral dissertation, Miami University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1532678812601448

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Sorensen, Erik. Situational Stress Factors and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Resident Assistants. 2018. Miami University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1532678812601448.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Sorensen, Erik. "Situational Stress Factors and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Resident Assistants." Doctoral dissertation, Miami University, 2018. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1532678812601448

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

miami1532678812601448
542
© 2018, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Situational Stress Factors and Secondary Traumatic Stress among Resident Assistants by Erik A Sorensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by Miami University and OhioLINK.