Title IX Coordinator's Experience With Professional Quality of Life

• In Event: Interventions Influencing Student Sucess
  In Roundtable Session: Leadership Journeys in Higher Education

Abstract

As an emerging area of professional practice in the field of higher education, Title IX administration plays a key role on college campuses in providing environments free of sex discrimination.  Federal mandates and guidance provide detailed direction to the scope, breadth, and depth of the role (Ali, 2011; Association of Title IX Administrators, 2012; Lhamon, 2015); however, limited research exists on the experiences of those who hold this role (Klein, 2016).  The Title IX Coordinator role exists in a high-stress environment that can have an impact both on the wellbeing of the individual and their ability to consistently perform at an expected high level.
The purpose of this qualitative interview study is to explore the experiences of Title IX Coordinators to understand the positive and negative influences on their professional quality of life. The study will provide a multifaceted focus on the role, exploring what meaning and significance professionals find in their work contributions, and areas that lead to fatigue and burnout.  An added emphasis is placed on how organizational facets influence their experiences with positive and negative professional quality of life.   As an emerging and complex role, this study will give voice to professionals who serve a unique role that includes balancing compliance with compassion-focused service.  Understanding influences on the Title IX Coordinator’s professional quality of life will contribute to literature on professional preparation and development, institutional support, and individual well-being.
Understanding their experience holistically involves exploring personal, interpersonal, and organizational factors that affect the individual.  Stamm’s (2010) Professional Quality of Life theory allows for exploration of this experience within a framework that recognizes both the positive and negative impact of serving in a helping role on the professional.  Daily exposure to job demands that include intensive emotional and psychological effort can have a significant effect on the wellbeing of the professional, particularly in helping fields (Figley, 2002; Newell & MacNeil, 2010; Stamm, 2010).   Stamm’s (2010) theory of professional quality of life for helping professions explores workplace wellbeing by considering the work environment, an individual’s characteristics, and the individual’s exposure to trauma in the workplace, with the resulting effects of these interactions being compassion satisfaction, and compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary trauma.
The world of Title IX Coordinators is evolving and complex, and there is no qualitative research available that explores the impact of this job on the professional quality of life (Stamm, 2010). In other helping professions, this model has been used to understand the reported levels of compassion fatigue and compassion satisfaction, and how organizational factors related to areas of work life impact these levels (Kulkarni, Bell, Hartman, & Herman-Smith, 2013; Ray, Wong, White, & Heaslip, 2013).  The qualitative design will contribute to understanding of the professional quality of life model (Stamm, 2010) as it applies to Title IX Coordinators, a role that balances administrative and helping responsibilities.  Using the qualitative design, in-depth interviews, and constant comparative techniques, a voice is given to professionals who provide a vital role for their campus, and for the victims of sexual misconduct who they serve directly.

Author

• Elizabeth Miller, Cerritos College