Exploratory Study of Counseling Professionals’ Attitudes Toward Distance Clinical Supervision

• Main Author: Munchel, Brittani Fiore
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholar Commons 2015
• Subjects: counselor education; standards; practices; practicum; internship; Counseling Psychology; Education
• Online Access: http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/5997; http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7193&context=etd

Many forms of distance clinical supervision (DCS) have been used in the last decade, but a sparse amount of research addressing (DCS) in counselor education exists to date. The author used random and snowball sampling to survey American Counseling Association members, with a analytic sample total of 96 participants. In the sample, 54.2% of participants were licensed counseling professionals and 39.6% were student or post-masters level interns. The average participant age was 43, ranging from 23 to 74 years. Participants had a mean of 8.1 years of experience. A total of 37.5% of participants had used DCS at some point for supervision sessions. Overall, participants have a positive attitude toward DCS, agreeing most that DCS is a valid form of supervision and that they are interested in learning about DCS. Overall, participants are being minimally exposed to DCS (x̅ = 1.61). A moderate, negative relationship (r = -.39, p < .001) exists between individuals whom have used DCS and attitudes toward DCS (Cohen, Cohen, West, & Aiken, 2003, p. 52). Also, a weak, negative relationship (r = -.23, p < .05) was found between individuals who have used DCS and their level of exposure to DCS. There is a limited amount of literature related to DCS and counseling professionals are being minimally exposed to distance clinical supervision. Despite limited exposure and literature, professionals are still using DCS to conduct supervision sessions. Therefore, it would seem important to increase research focused on DCS and develop relevant practices in order for DCS to be an effective form of supervision.