Abstract
Date Presented 03/22/24
This study explored college faculty and staff awareness and perceptions of student support services. Increased awareness of support services positively correlates with positive perceptions and more referrals and thus greater access to services.
Primary Author and Speaker: Elise Ulaj
Additional Authors and Speakers: Sara Pellerin
Contributing Authors: Pamela Pamela Story, Catherine Cavaliere PhD, OTR/L, John A. Damiao
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to explore the awareness & perception of faculty & staff on student support services in higher education through an occupational justice lens.
DESIGN: This study is mixed methods explanatory sequential. Criteria for participants are faculty & staff employed by a small private university in the New York Metropolitan area with recruiting done via email.
METHOD: QN and QL data were collected through surveys via email & additional QL data was collected via 3 focus groups using Otter to transcribe. SPSS & Excel were used to generate statistics for QN data & Excel was used to organize all data. QL data underwent coding & thematic analysis. Spearman’s Rho was used to explore relationships between awareness & perceptions, awareness & referral rates, & perceptions & referral rates. T-test & Man-Whitney U were used to compare means of awareness of faculty & staff.
RESULTS: Positive correlations were found between awareness & perception, awareness & referral, and perception & referral (Information Tech: r value =.675; New Student Transition Center: r value =.667; New Student Transition Center: r value =.485). Staff & dual roles showed more awareness than faculty, particularly with New Student Transition Center & Resident Life. Four themes emerged: need for increased awareness (increasing faculty knowledge of services), increased access (increasing availability), tech supports (inclusive email communications), & admin supports (professional development).
CONCLUSION: Faculty & staff awareness of student support services supports a greater perception & use of those services, which is crucial to students accessing those services, thus supporting student success.
IMPACT STATEMENT: The findings are important to inform higher education practices that enable faculty & staff be more aware of support services offered on campus leading to increased access of these services thereby supporting the occupation of education through a justice lens.
References
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