Supervisee transfer of learning in psychotherapy supervision.

Abstract

Aim: Clinical supervision is a well established means of facilitating supervisee learning and transfer of learning is explicitly linked to learning. Within the clinical supervision literature, there is an absence of research on supervisee transfer of learning. The purpose of this research project was to address the gap in the literature using a discovery-oriented research approach which involved the design of two studies. Method: Study 1 was an analogue case study using a simulated supervisory triad of supervisor, supervisee and client. The data from Study 1 were collected using Brief Structured Recall interviews which were analysed using Comprehensive Process Analysis. Data for Study 1 were also collected using the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory (Efstation, Patton & Kardash, 1990) and the Working Alliance Inventory (Horvath & Greenberg, 1989; Tracey & Kokotowitz, 1989). Data were collected for Study 2 from semi-structured interviews with 12 supervisees with experience of transferring learning from supervision into therapy practice. The data from Study 2 were analysed using a combination of Comprehensive Process Analysis and Descriptive and Interpretative qualitative research. Research participants from both Study 1 and Study 2 also completed demographic questionnaires. Results; Supervisee learning events in supervision stem from the supervisee experiences in counselling and supervisee learning in supervision is facilitated through good supervisory working alliances. Factors influencing supervisee transfer of learning from supervision include the timing of supervision sessions; supervisee levels of motivation; the strength of the working alliance in therapy; possibilities for transfer in counselling sessions; supervisee ability to generalise learning into counselling sessions; supervisee ability to improvise their learning in counselling sessions. Conclusion; Supervisee learning takes place in both supervision and counselling and these settings can be considered as sites for invention and innovation, where supervisee learning is constructed, reorganised and transformed in a co-creative process. Supervisee learning is then transferred from supervision into counselling and vice versa. The supervisee learning and transfer process can be imagined as a continuous loop linking supervision and counselling in a reciprocal relationship. Transfer of learning is identified as a dynamic process rather than a simple pattern of learn-it-here and apply-it-there. As part of this dynamic process the client contributes to supervisee learning and the transfer of learning from supervision. This has a consequential impact on the client?s own learning and insights which are recognised as positive outcomes of the counselling process. Implications and recommendations from this research for supervisors, supervisees, supervision theory, training and research in supervision were also identified.