Date of Graduation
5-2024
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)
College/School
School of Education
Department
Leadership Studies
Program
Organization & Leadership EdD
First Advisor
Dr. Seenae Chong
Second Advisor
Dr. Darrick Smith
Third Advisor
Dr. Jason Renolds
Abstract
The goal of this study was to understand the experiences of caregiver burden and burnout for Resident Directors (RDs). RDs live on campus and support students through traumatic experiences by serving in an “on-call” capacity. Student emergencies that RDs respond to include mental health concerns, sexual violence and sexual harassment, suicidal ideation, self-harm, grief, physical assault, etc. There is little research on understanding this work's experience and potential long-term implications.
Through a constructivist-interpretivist research paradigm and phenomenological qualitative methodology, nine interviews took place with individuals who had previously been RDs at Bay Area University, a large public institution in the San Francisco Bay Area. All participants answered questions about their experience living on campus, supporting students through emergencies, and managing their well-being. The following key findings were discovered through this research: RDs wear “multiple hats,” sense of being “always on,” tensions with work/life balance, RDs who hold marginalized identities experience a significant pull of emotional labor, RDs who have more privileged identities provide allyship, the RD job provided feelings of fulfillment and emptiness, lower personal well-being, disconnection, and coping through connection with others.
Utilizing a Caregiver Burden conceptual framework for this study, with existing literature and key findings, three major implications emerge: caregiving is a primary function of the RD role, student crises have lasting impacts on RDs, and the university lacks investment.
Throughout this study, there are references to topics such as suicide, self-harm, sexual violence, sexual harassment, and grief.
Recommended Citation
Koroyan, T. (2024). THE EXPERIENCE OF CAREGIVER BURDEN AND BURNOUT AMONG RESIDENT DIRECTORS. Retrieved from https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/714
