The development of competency in clinical supervision is becoming an increasingly important element of training and practice in professional psychology. To assist students in developing supervisory competencies, knowledge of relevant research and effective training methods is required. Three studies were designed to add to the field of supervisor development research. In the first study, I conducted a systematic review to examine the extent to which theoretical models of supervisor development have been used in empirical studies of supervisor development within professional psychology. This study revealed that studies rarely employ theory, and when they do, the Supervisor Complexity Model is the most often used theory, likely because it is the only one with an associated measure, the Psychotherapy Supervisor Development Scale (PSDS; Watkins, Schneider, Haynes, & Nieberding, 1995). Building on the findings of this systematic review, in the second study I conducted a reliability and validity generalization on the PSDS. Reliability and validity generalizations are meta-analytic methods that allow reliability and validity data from a measure to be summarized across studies. Results indicate the PSDS has a history of excellent reliability, and higher scores are found with increased supervisory training and experience, evidence of the scale’s validity. The third study is a meta-analysis of the supervisor development literature, in order to assess the effect sizes of training and experience on supervisory development and self-efficacy. Results indicate that training and experience have significant positive effect sizes, though they do not differ from one another. Based on results from these studies I provide recommendations about: the samples with which the PSDS tool is appropriately used, and how researchers might increase reliability within their own future studies, and evidence based recommendations for competency based education efforts.

No description available.

The present study implemented quantitative (Phase I) and qualitative (Phase II) analyses to investigate the relationships that the constructs of psychological flexibility (PF) and psychological inflexibility (PI) had with helping profession trainees’ experience of conflict in clinical supervision, conflict management styles, and ratings of the quality of the supervisoryrelationship. Phase-I results (n = 290) revealed no relationship between conflict prevalence, frequency, or distress with overall levels of PF and PI. However, secondary analyses suggested individual components of PF and PI as measured by the Multidimensional Psychological Flexibility Inventory (MPFI; Rolffs et al., 2016) may be related to these constructs, including Defusion, Self as Context, Values, Fusion, Lack of Contact with Values, and Inaction. Participants’ levels of PF and PI predicted most conflict management styles. PF was especially related to the Integrating style and PI was especially related to the Avoiding style. Participants’ levels of PF were also positively correlated with the quality of the supervisory relationship. Phase II results from semi-structured interviews interpreted via the Listening Guide method revealed relationships between four participants’ experiences of conflict in supervision and components of PF and PI. Three themes emerged across the interviews: negative affect, inexperience, and accepting responsibility. Qualitative findings were also related to various components of PF and PI, especially Self as Context, Experiential Avoidance, and Fusion.

Despite its critical role in counselor training, empirical research on clinical supervision is generally limited (Bernard & Goodyear, 2003; Ellis & Ladany, 2007). This is also applied to an area of power dynamics in supervision. This study tested the relationship between the two aspects of power dynamics; namely, supervisors' power bases (i.e., sources of influencing others) and supervisory styles (i.e., typical ways of shaping supervision), based on the system's approach to supervision model (Holloway, 1995). This research was a correlational design. Students in masters' and doctoral counseling programs were asked to respond to an online questionnaire packet via Survey MonkeyTM. Of those who responded, 492 students who took supervision with professor or doctoral student supervisors constituted the sample. Varied numbers of participants were used for each analysis after missing or extreme data were deleted. Supervisors' usage of power bases and supervisory styles were measured by the adopted version of Interpersonal Power Inventory (Raven, Schwarzwald, & Koslowsky, 1998) and Supervisory Style Inventory (SSI; Friedlander & Ward, 1984), respectively. In part 1, results of factor analyses revealed four first-order power factors and two higher-order power factors (Soft & Harsh). Schmeid-Leiman's (1957) solution was also applied. In part 2, result of correlation analysis in revealed that supervisors' usage of Soft or Soft-type power factor (Idealized Expert) was moderately positively correlated to all three supervisory styles but that usage of Harsh or Harsh-type factors (Compensatory Obligation, Relational Power, & Collaborative Alliance) was only weakly correlated to supervisory styles, for majority of supervisors. Similarly, results of regression analyses revealed that supervisory styles did not significantly predict supervisors' usage of Harsh factor, but both supervisory styles and usage of ix Harsh factor significantly predicted usage of Soft factor at moderate and strong level, respectively. The interpersonally-sensitive styles predicted Soft factor slightly more strongly than the other styles. It was concluded that supervisors who engaged in supervision with any one of three supervisory styles also tended to use more Soft or Soft-type factor when there are disagreements, but rarely used Harsh or Harsh types.

Student Number : 0317159E - MSc(Nursing) research report - School of Therapeutics - Faculty of Health Sciences / The learning environment and supervision in clinical placement play an important role in nursing education. The purpose of this study was to describe the opinions of student nurses with regard to the clinical learning environment and supervision at Malamulo Hospital, Malawi. A quantitative descriptive design was used. Data were collected from nursing students at Malamulo College of Health Science using the Clinical Learning Environment Scale (CLES) comprising structured questions. The questionnaire was administered to the total population of students (N=84) and the response rate was 87% (n=73). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Relationships between variables were determined by using Fisher’s exact test and the t-test. The findings revealed that the majority of the participants were satisfied with their clinical learning environment and supervision in their latest clinical placement. Particularly, they were satisfied with the relationship that prevailed between students and members of nursing staff, feedback they received from their supervisors, the nursing care given to patients and the quality of learning opportunities. However, it was determined that nurse teachers did not regularly supervise students and also that some students were not clear about the nursing philosophy of their wards. Ward familiarization processes were not well planned as indicated by about a third of the participants. More than one third also indicated that the learning situations were not sufficient and not meaningful. While 73.98 % indicated that they received constructive feedback from their supervisors, about half of the participants indicated that the feedback was not given continuously.The majority (67.76%) of the participants experienced team supervision as opposed to individual supervision. Therefore it is recommended that nurse teachers increase the number of visits to the wards when students are in clinical placement to improve quality of clinical learning. The nursing college may need to have specific clinical instructors who are trained in clinical supervision and who will be available for students in the clinical placements regularly. The ward managers and the nursing staff need to clarify and display their ward nursing philosophy so that both nurses and students can have a common understanding and common goal in the provision of nursing care. It is also recommended that feedback be given to students continuously to enhance learning.

Thesis advisor: Janet E. Helms / Supervision may be an ideal format for training psychologists to be racially and culturally responsive because supervisors can tailor interventions to fit supervisees’ individual developmental needs. Nevertheless, over 30 years ago, counseling psychology researchers began identifying harmful effects of racially and culturally unresponsive supervision from the perspectives of supervisees. Missing from the literature has been empirical evidence from the perspectives of supervisors themselves. Moreover, research has failed to explore the influence of context (i.e., mental health sites) on supervision that addresses race and culture. The present study explored supervisors’ perspectives and experiences as they pertained to (a) providing racially and culturally responsive supervision, (b) the racial climate of their mental health work environments, and (c) influences of their institutional racial climates on their supervision practices as they pertained to race and culture. Interviews with psychologists, who identified as Black (n = 4) and White (n = 4), were analyzed using directed content analysis guided by the Racial Identity Social Interaction Model. Core domains and themes from the analysis drew connections between the supervisors’ perceptions of the racial climate of their institution and the challenges of supervising on race and culture. Findings from the study highlight the ways in which supervisors in mental health settings attempt to protect their supervisees in environments in which they often feel unprotected. Limitations and implications of the study for supervision theory, research, and practice are discussed. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Counseling, Developmental and Educational Psychology.

Magister Curationis - MCur / Background: Clinical supervision or clinical accompaniment is considered an integral part of nursing education and is crucial for the development of nursing students’ clinical competence. In order to achieve this, clinical supervision requires skilled human resources which vary from one educational institution to another and may include lecturers, clinical supervisors/facilitators and professional nurses. Clinical supervisors are required to be good educators as well as excellent clinicians. In addition, they often draw on their individual, personal and professional experiences to guide their teaching to meet the demands of both the clinical and academic contexts in which they work. However, the clinical teaching model or framework used by educational institutions is often not aligned to clinical practice activities and vice versa. This poses challenges for students due to the different expectations of educators and professional nurses in practice. Inadequately prepared clinical supervisors can have a detrimental effect on the delivery of the nursing programme that may include poor clinical teaching and inadequate integration of theory and clinical competencies, which ultimately leads to poorly trained nursing students. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to explore the perceptions of clinical supervisors regarding their preparedness for clinical teaching. Methods: The study adopted a qualitative research approach, utilising an exploratory descriptive design. A non-probability purposive sampling method was used to select 12 clinical supervisors in the undergraduate programme. The researcher collected the data by means of semi-structured interviews with open-ended questions and analysed this data using content data analysis. Analysis of the data using ATLAS, ti 8 research software programme generated four themes and 18 categories. Findings: The findings indicated that clinical supervisors required time to adapt to their role and improve their knowledge and skills despite them having a positive experience during their orientation. Although appreciative of the support and guidance, clinical supervisors stated that not all colleagues were supportive, which in some instances had a negative impact on interpersonal relationships. The findings furthermore indicated that clinical supervisors apply all the steps of the five phases in the skills lab methodology employed by the School of Nursing at the university where the study was conducted. Clinical supervisors are required to be well informed and committed to continuing education in order to incorporate theory into practice with the latest developments and equipment in facilities. Furthermore, the findings indicated that inconsistency and failure to attend to students’ clinical learning needs can have a negative impact on student learning. Ethics: The researcher adhered to all principles of research ethics throughout the study.

Det saknas studier hur handledarna upplever handledning på avancerad nivå inom psykiatrisk omvårdnad. Rollen handledarna har är komplex, de ska både fungera som en mentor och som den som bedömer studenternas prestationer samt ge god vård åt patienten. Syftet med denna studie är att belysa hur handledning upplevs av den handledande sjuksköterskan under Verksamhetsförlagd utbildning (VFU) för specialistsjuksköterskor i psykiatri. Att få kunskapen studien genererar skapar förutsättningar för organisationen och universitetet att anpassa utbildning och återkoppling som gynnar handledarna och studenternas utveckling samt höjer vårdkvaliteten för patienterna. En explorativ kvalitativ ansats enligt fokusgruppsintervjuer har ansetts lämplig för studien då målet är att fånga vidden och komplexiteten i handledning. När deltagarna dras med i diskussionen skapas ett reflekterade klimat som på ett omfattande sätt belyser individens upplevelser, tankar och känslor. Studien kommer att utföras inom psykiatriska kliniken på Länssjukhuset Ryhov efter tillstånd från etisk kommitté.

Self-assessment is an important tool for evaluating behaviour and for gaining self-knowledge. However, self-assessment is prone to biases that contaminate the accuracy of the evaluation. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the presence of a standard – an objective description of a standard of competent practice – within self-assessment measures would reduce such biases and enhance the validity of self-assessment. Psychology graduate students were randomly assigned to complete self-assessments of research and clinical supervision competency that either included, or did not include, a standard. The presence of a standard had no effect on self-assessment means, but amount of training was associated with perceived competence within the same domain among those who completed the survey with the standard. The findings suggest that the inclusion of a standard has a complex effect on self-assessment scores that does not simply reduce self-enhancement effects but nonetheless improves the construct validity of the measure.

abstract: This study examined the factor structure of supervisee disclosure in clinical supervision. An original survey measure was created for this study, the Supervisee Disclosure Scale (SDS). Through exploratory factor analysis eight specific content areas of supervisee disclosure were identified. The eight specific content areas of supervisee disclosure include: Perceived Clinical Inadequacy, Transference Issues, Strengths of the Supervisory Relationship, Clinical Successes, Self, Weaknesses of the Supervisory Bond, Dissatisfaction with the Clinical Setting, and Own Clinical Voice. Furthermore, this study examined the potential relationship of clinical experience with the content areas of supervisee disclosure. The results of this study support a relationship between greater clinical experience and disclosure of items related to Self but not with the other content areas. Additionally, the bi-level factor structure of the Working Alliance Inventory/Supervision-Short (WAI-SS) was validated via confirmatory factor analysis. The bi-level factor structure of the WAI-SS identifies a hierarchical structure of general alliance in addition to the specific factors of task, bond, and goal. Lastly, this study preliminarily evaluated the relationship between WAI-SS factors of general alliance, task, bond, and goal and the preliminary specific content areas of supervisee disclosure. The hierarchical factor of general alliance was a statistically significant predictor for all specific content areas of supervisee disclosure. The preliminary findings of this study, highlight the important differences in the relationships among the specific factors of the supervisory working alliance and content areas of supervisee nondisclosure. The factor of task was not significantly correlated with content areas of supervisee disclosure and the factor of goal was only a significant predictor for two content areas of disclosure: Strengths of the Supervisory Relationship and Dissatisfaction with Clinical Setting. The factor of bond was significantly correlated with six content areas of supervisee disclosure and significantly predicted five content areas: Strengths of the Supervisory Relationship, Clinical Successes, Self, Weaknesses of the Supervisory Bond, and Dissatisfaction with the Clinical Setting. This study contributes specificity to the supervision literature on supervisee disclosure and nondisclosure. The results of this study provide a psychometrically sound foundation for future research to identify aspects of the supervisory working alliance that may reduce supervisee nondisclosure. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Counseling Psychology 2018