The Crisis of Caring: Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue among Student Conduct

194 Pages·2017·2.36 MB·English

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USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations USF Graduate Theses and Dissertations
4-5-2016
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Cara Rachel Bernstein Chernoff
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Bernstein Chernoff, Cara Rachel, "The Crisis of Caring: Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue
among Student Conduct and Behavior Intervention Professionals" (2016). USF Tampa Graduate Theses
and Dissertations.
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The Crisis of Caring: Compassion Satisfaction and Compassion Fatigue among Student Conduct

and Behavior Intervention Professionals

by

Cara R. Bernstein Chernoff

A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirement for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
with an emphasis in Higher Education Administration
Department of Leadership, Counseling, Adult, Career and Higher Education
College of Education
University of South Florida

Major Professor: William H. Young III, Ed.D.
Kathleen P. King, Ed.D.
Donald A. Dellow, Ed.D.
Thomas Miller, Ed.D.

Date of Approval:
March 31, 2016

Keywords: Burnout, Secondary Traumatic Stress, Higher Education Administration, Student
Affairs, Pro-QOL 5

Copyright © 2016, Cara R. Bernstein Chernoff
DEDICATION

This dissertation is dedicated to the student conduct and behavior intervention
professionals around the world who make difficult but rewarding decisions in the best interest of
their students and their communities. For those who constantly strive to make our campuses the
communities we always hoped they would be, thank you.
Additionally, this dissertation is dedicated in memory of my father, Gary S. Bernstein.
While our time together was too short, I hope that my past, my present, and my future fulfill your
hopes and dreams for me every day.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

It takes a community to support the path of one person to reach this momentous occasion
of completing a doctoral degree. While the process took 1,683 days to arrive to this point, the
hard work and the dedication needed to complete a doctorate requires a great deal of support,
challenge, and celebration. The following individuals acknowledged below have made a
profound impact on me academically, professionally, and personally.
To my dissertation committee, thank you all for your support, guidance, knowledge, and
edits. Dr. William Young, when I started this journey, you told me “a good dissertation is a
complete dissertation.” Thank you for stepping in as my chair to make sure that my dissertation
was not merel,y complete but provides the foundation for my future academic work. Dr. Kathy
King, your mentorship and support towards my progress impacted me more than you will ever
know. Your support inside and outside the classroom, as my initial chair, as a committee member
and your encouragement to explore more have changed me as a person forever. Dr. Don Dellow,
thank you for your time and guidance in maintaining focus on the goal of completion and for
pushing for my forward progress. Dr. Tom Miller, thank you so much for your interest in the
topic, your attention to grammar and detail, and your leadership.
To the staff of the Office of Student Rights and Responsibilities at the University of
South Florida, each of you has helped me along my doctoral journey. From encouraging me to
pursue my degree, providing the support when I needed it, engaging in discussion about what I
learned and how it applies to our work, and celebrating my successes along the way, I truly work
with the best student conduct office in the country. Winston Jones, Maria Zale, Chiqui Aldana,
Joshua Cutchens, and Jonathan Monti, each one of you helped me professionally and I am
forever in your debt. To Paul Metellus, Nicole Onofreo, and David Laird, thank you for being so
understanding while I was your supervisor during this process and for showing the promise of
the next generation of student affairs. Thank you for helping me recognize the importance of my
research to our field.
To the Association for Student Conduct Administration (ASCA) thank you so much for
the participation in this study. A great deal of gratitude is bestowed to the ASCA Research
committee for allowing the research to occur. Additionally, Dr. Jennifer Waller and Dr. Sarah
Minnis, thank you both for your assistance and encouragement during my dissertation process.
To the members, your time and insight has helped to advance the growing research on student
conduct administration.
To those individuals who fostered my interest in crisis management, compassion
satisfaction and fatigue and student affairs, thank you for helping me start this journey. My
professors both at University of Florida and University of South Florida have fostered my
academic interests to be a phenomenal scholar and practitioner. To Dr. Sharrika Davis Adams,
Dr. Gene Zdziarski, Dr. Michael Rollo, and Norb Dunkel, thank you for exposing me to the
concepts of crisis management filled with compassion and care. You all helped to provide the
foundation for the research I have completed.
To my friends and family, I extend my greatest appreciation for your understanding,
enthusiasm, and excitement for me during this process. To my fellow classmates and Ph.D. peers
across the country, having a group of individuals sharing this experience has been invaluable. I
have enjoyed celebrating your current successes and cannot wait for all of us to finish the
journey. To my friends, especially Matthew Sullivan, Eileen Dabrowski, Clara Wiersma, Kerry
Guerard Nelson, and Jennifer Bannon, thank you for understanding when my schoolwork came
first, for telling me I could do this, for making me laugh, and for being some of the most
important people in my journey. To my family, thank you so much for understanding when my
classwork became my primary focus, for telling me “you got this,” encouraging me when I
needed it, and for understanding why I said, “ABD before Baby.”
To my mom, Dr. Anne Koenig, thank you for never setting limits for me. You are the
greatest role model in my life showing me that if you use your brain, you can accomplish
anything. Your passion for education showed me the way to success and I hope that I have made
you proud.
Finally, to my partner in life and everything that comes with it, Jeff Chernoff, thank you
for being there for me every single day. This four year journey has been able to occur because of
your understanding, support, and flexibility. I always knew you would understand if I said I
needed to focus on the degree and that you would be there every step of the way cheering me on.
I cannot wait to see what the next chapter of our life looks like together as Dr. and Mr.
TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Tables ..................................................................................................................................v

List of Figures .............................................................................................................................. xiii

Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... ix

Chapter 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................................1
Background ..........................................................................................................................1
Compassion Fatigue .................................................................................................5
Burnout ....................................................................................................................5
Secondary Traumatic Stress .....................................................................................6
Vicarious Traumatization.........................................................................................6
Compassion Satisfaction ..........................................................................................7
Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................8
Crisis in Higher Education .....................................................................................11
Theoretical Framework ......................................................................................................12
Purpose Statement ..............................................................................................................13
Research Questions ............................................................................................................13
Definition of Terms............................................................................................................14
Limitations .........................................................................................................................15
Assumptions .......................................................................................................................15
Researcher Bias ..................................................................................................................15

Chapter 2: Literature Review .........................................................................................................17
Student Conduct Administration........................................................................................17
Foundation of Student Conduct Administration ....................................................17
Disciplinary Counseling.........................................................................................19
Student Activism and Student Conduct .................................................................20
Student Development as a part of Student Conduct ..............................................23
Sexual Assault and Increasing Compliance ...........................................................24
Role of the Student Conduct Administrator...........................................................26
Crisis ................................................................................................................................27
Crisis in Higher Education .................................................................................................28
Definition of Crisis ................................................................................................28
The Crisis Matrix ...................................................................................................29
Individuals Engaged in Crisis Response ................................................................31
Crisis Management Training in Higher Education ............................................................34
Challenges in Addressing Crisis in Higher Education .......................................................35
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After the Crisis Occurs.......................................................................................................36
Constructivist Self-Development Theory ..........................................................................38
Professional Quality of Life ...............................................................................................39
Environmental Factors ...........................................................................................40
Compassion Satisfaction ........................................................................................41
Compassion Fatigue ...............................................................................................42
Secondary Traumatic Stress ...................................................................................43
Burnout ..................................................................................................................44
Professional Quality of Life in Other Fields ......................................................................46
Addiction Counselors.............................................................................................47
Critical Incident Stress Management Providers .....................................................47
Interdisciplinary Hospice Teams ...........................................................................47
Nursing Faculty ......................................................................................................48
Sexual Assault Advocates ......................................................................................48
Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners ...........................................................................49
Social Work ...........................................................................................................49
Professional Quality of Life and Higher Education ...........................................................50
Summary ............................................................................................................................51

Chapter 3: Method .........................................................................................................................52
Purpose of the Study .........................................................................................................52
Research Philosophy ..........................................................................................................53
Quantitative Research Design ............................................................................................55
Research Questions ............................................................................................................56
Research Design.................................................................................................................57
Sampling Design ....................................................................................................57
Target Population and Sample ...............................................................................58
Survey Methodology ..............................................................................................62
Web-Based Survey Design and Collection ............................................................63
Questionnaire .........................................................................................................65
Quantitative Data Collection..................................................................................65
The ProQOL 5........................................................................................................66
Validity and Reliability of the ProQOL 5 ..............................................................67
Demographic Information ......................................................................................67
Data Collection ..................................................................................................................68
Alternatives to Participation ..............................................................................................68
Compensation ....................................................................................................................69
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................69
Managing and Recording of Data ......................................................................................72
Ethical Considerations .......................................................................................................72
Limitations .........................................................................................................................73
Summary ............................................................................................................................74

Chapter 4: Data Analysis ...............................................................................................................75
Sample Description ............................................................................................................75
Gender ....................................................................................................................76
ii
Age .........................................................................................................................77
Highest Educational Degree Attainment ...............................................................77
Institutional Type ...................................................................................................78
Position Responsibilities ........................................................................................79
Position Type .........................................................................................................80
Years of Experience in Student Affairs .................................................................80
Years of Experience in Student Conduct and Behavior Intervention ....................81
Years of Service at Current Institution ..................................................................82
On-Call Responsibilities ........................................................................................83
Hours of Addressing Student Conduct and Behavior Intervention and Direct
Student Contact ......................................................................................................83
Reliability ...........................................................................................................................84
Descriptive Statistics ..........................................................................................................85
Data Analysis .....................................................................................................................87
Research Question 1 ..............................................................................................87
Research Question 2 ..............................................................................................88
Student Affairs Experience ........................................................................89
Student Conduct and Behavior Intervention Experience ...........................93
Research Question 3 ..............................................................................................96
Student Conduct Administration Responsibilities .....................................97
Academic Integrity Job Responsibilities ...................................................99
Student Organization Conduct Job Responsibilities ................................102
Title IX Job Responsibilities ....................................................................105
Alternative Dispute Resolution Job Responsibilities ...............................107
Behavior Intervention and Threat Assessment Job Responsibilities .......110
Research Question 4 ............................................................................................113
Research Question 5 ............................................................................................115
Summary ..........................................................................................................................118

Chapter 5: Discussion and Recommendations .............................................................................119
Method Summary.............................................................................................................120
Findings and Discussion by Research Question ..............................................................122
Research Question 1 ............................................................................................123
Research Question 2 ............................................................................................124
Research Question 3 ............................................................................................126
Research Question 4 ............................................................................................128
Research Question 5 ............................................................................................129
Limitations .......................................................................................................................130
Recommendations for Practice ........................................................................................131
Future Research ...............................................................................................................137
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................139
Summary ..........................................................................................................................141

References ....................................................................................................................................142
iii
Appendix A: Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) Instrument ......................................162

Appendix B: Permission to Use Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL) Instrument ........163

Appendix C: Survey Instrument ..................................................................................................164

Appendix D: Informed Consent to Participate in Research .........................................................168

Appendix E: Request to Study ASCA Membership Application for Research Committee ........171

Appendix F: Request to Study ASCA Membership Instructions ................................................172

Appendix G: Initial E-mail to Study Participants ........................................................................173

Appendix H: Reminder E-mail to Study Participants ..................................................................174

Appendix I: Permission to Study ASCA Membership ................................................................175

Appendix J: University of South Florida Institutional Review Board Approval.........................176

Appendix K: Permission to Reprint Crisis Matrix .......................................................................177

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