The effect of supervisor and trainee therapist gender on supervision discourse

The effects of supervisor and trainee therapist gender on supervision discourse were examined in this study. Forty episodes of supervision discourse, with ten drawn from each of four types of supervision systems were videotaped. The systems were (1) male supervisor and male trainee therapist; (2) male supervisor and female trainee therapist; (3) female supervisor and male trainee therapist; and (4) female supervisor and female trainee therapist. The episodes of supervision discourse were analysed using a supervision discourse coding system which showed adequate inter-rater reliability. For supervisors, the coding system allowed a directive discourse style and a collaborative discourse styled to be coded. A cooperative discourse style and a resistant discourse style could be coded for trainee therapists. Two statistically significant findings of considerable theoretical and clinical importance emerged. First, contrary to stereotypic expectations, discourse characterized by a directive supervision style and a resistant trainee therapist style was more common for systems containing a female supervisor than for those containing a male supervisor. Second, for same gender supervisor-trainee-therapist supervision systems, a collaborative systemic supervision style was correlated with both cooperative and resistant trainee therapist styles. This discourse pattern did not occur for opposite gender supervision systems, indicating that a collaborative supervision discourse style is consistently associated with trainee therapist parti-cipation (either cooperatively or resistantly) within same gender pairings of supervisors and trainee therapists. These results are discussed in light of relevant literature on gender, power and supervision process and the limitations of the study are considered.     

Expectations of obese trainees: how stigmatized trainee characteristics influence training effectiveness

This study identifies stigma as a potential precursor to self-fulfilling prophecies in training interactions. Expectations held by leaders often result in actions that elicit expectancy-confirming behaviors from their subordinates. The results of the present study suggest that trainee weight (manipulated with a photograph depicting the trainee as either obese or average weight for height) influenced female trainer expectations and evaluations of the training and trainee. Furthermore, the results suggest that negative expectations held by trainers were related to trainee evaluations of the training and the trainer and, for less flexible trainers, to decrements in trainee performance on the trained task. Overall, the results suggest that trainer expectations can be influenced by stereotypes held about trainee characteristics, thus undermining training effectiveness.     

Structural factors affecting the supervisor's devotion

The system of supervision in psychoanalytically-oriented psychotherapy consists of a young, relatively inexperienced trainee and a senior, experienced and knowledgeable supervisor. The issues generally discussed during the course of supervision are related to the dynamics of the patient, therapeutic values, difficulties encountered by the trainee and feelings aroused in him or her in connection with the patient and the therapy. The trainee goes through a process of growth and development in both the personal and the professional sense. This process may thus be studied by analogy with the process of human growth and development as it appears in the theoretical literature in the context of the mother-child or the therapist-patient relationship. The theoretical questions at the focus of the present paper are concerned mainly with a number of structural factors in the relationship between the supervisor and the trainee. These factors go beyond the differences in the participants' personalities. These factors are built into every supervisory system and serve to increase the supervisor's devotion to the trainee. The paper examines the components of the supervisor-trainee interaction that may help the supervisor ignore his or her own needs, wishes and self, and concentrate on the needs and wishes of the trainee. This enables the supervisor to create an accepting environment that permits the trainee to grow and develop as a professional and as a person.     

A blind woman who is mentally retarded promoting and sharing the occupational engagement of a dependent deaf-blind adolescent

A blind woman who is mentally retarded was employed (as peer care-giver) to promote and eventually share the occupational engagement of a deaf-blind adolescent (trainee) who was dependent on physical prompting. A computer-aided program was used to provide objects for the responses and facilitate orientation and mobility. The trainee was also exposed to the computer-aided program individually to assess the effects of the program per se. The results showed highly positive changes only in the condition involving the peer care-giver. In this condition, the trainee performed high frequencies of correct responses. Moreover, the care-giver managed to share responding with the trainee. Technical and practical aspects of the findings are discussed.     

Instructor behavior associated with trainee attentiveness during behavioral training workshops: A preliminary assessment

A variable affecting the success of behavioral training workshops is the degree to which workshop instructors promote attentiveness among trainees. This study represented a preliminary assessment of trainee attentiveness associated with different types of workshop instructor behavior. Attentiveness among 298 people attending 21 training workshops was observed as instructors engaged in different categories and subcategories of behavior. Results indicated a decreasing trend in trainee attentiveness as instructors spent more time exclusively talking and talking with a slide presentation. Relatedly, trainee attentiveness was lowest when instructors were talking with and without a slide presentation relative to engaging in these plus other behaviors (asking a question, telling a story, changing instructors, showing a video, providing a participant activity, and/or expressing humor). Results are discussed in terms of behavior analysts conducting workshops in light of instructional behavior associated with high levels of trainee attentiveness and exerting caution with time spent exclusively talking and talking with slide presentations. Future research areas discussed focus on ways to further specify workshop instructor behavior that promotes or impedes trainee attentiveness.     

“Out on the edge of my comfort”: Trainee counsellor/psychotherapists' experiences of spirituality in therapy—A qualitative exploration

The integration of spirituality into counselling and psychotherapy poses complex challenges. Personal spirituality, professional competency and ethical considerations may impact on trainees' experiences of integrating spirituality into therapy. This study adopted an inductive, qualitative approach to explore trainee counsellor/psychotherapists' experiences and perceptions of integrating spirituality into therapy. Six trainee counsellors and psychotherapists were recruited using purposive sampling from a professional counsellor and psychotherapist training institution in the UK. In‐depth, semi‐structured interviews were conducted, audio‐recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of the interviews revealed two overarching themes: spirituality provides support but needs a warning; and spirituality is relevant but undervalued. These themes encompass a wide range of trainee concerns associated with integrating spirituality into therapy. Participants reported that they felt unprepared to work therapeutically with clients' spiritual beliefs. However, the value of spirituality in providing support to both the trainee and their clients was highlighted by several participants. Some participants described integrating clients' spirituality as having a positive impact on the therapeutic relationship, but often felt threatening to the trainee. This research has implications that are important for counselling and psychotherapy training and developing enhanced consideration of client spirituality and the interpersonal environment in which therapy is delivered.     

An Examination of the Role Individual Differences Play in Videogame–Based Training

Videogames are emerging as an increasingly popular training tool in the military. Given this trend, it is important to investigate factors that maximize the effectiveness of this training medium. The present research analyzed the impact of trainee attributes (i.e., prior videogame experience, videogame self-efficacy, and goal orientation) on game-based training outcomes. Participants completed a game–based tactics training exercise. The training exercise used America's Army, a first-person-perspective videogame with a single-player section to introduce game-specific tasks, followed by a multiplayer section where participants form small teams to conduct collaborative missions. Prior to and after the training exercise, participants completed online questionnaires. Results suggest that the trainee attributes, as a set, had a positive impact on trainee motivation, trainee satisfaction, ease in using the training game interface, metacognitive strategies utilized during training, and time spent engaging in the training game. These findings have implications for instructors using videogames as training tools. Recommendations for future research in this area are provided.     

Microteaching: A Proposal For Manpower Development and Training Improvement

Microteaching, using videotape equipment as a training aid, may enhance the skills and effectiveness of trainees in Manpower Development Training centers. Microteaching allows the trainee to learn through manipulative experience and to receive immediate feedback regarding his performance. Moreover, this procedure provides program coordinators with a means of evaluating the efficiency, effectiveness, and utility of the center and its facilities as well as providing a starting point for trainee improvement. In addition, videotaped experiences offer increased knowledge to counselors, thus promoting vocational direction best suited to trainee needs.     

Psychoanalytic developmental psychology and the supervision of psychotherapy supervisor trainees

While literature on psychotherapy supervision abounds, literature on supervisor supervision (i.e., the actual supervision of a supervisor trainee who is in the process of learning to supervise) is far more scarce. How might the supervision of supervision process be best understood? What is the developmental experience of supervisor trainees? How can supervisors effectively intervene when working with supervisor trainees? Those questions have been addressed in only the most meagre fashion, and guidance on how to engage in the supervision of supervision is sorely lacking. In this paper, a psychoanalytic developmental framework is used to provide a means of conceptualising the supervisor trainee experience and to suggest a programme by which supervisors can best respond to their supervisor trainees' needs. Supervisor trainee ‘unfolding’ and ‘becoming’ are captured within a developmental progression that punctuates separation and individuation processes. The place of the supervisor – in holding and containing, loosening and liberating, buffering and bolstering, and refuelling and reloading – is considered in the facilitation of supervisor trainee development.     

Introducing Novice Therapists to “Go-Between” Techniques of Family Therapy

The training of family therapists requires that learning objectives and expectations be specified in empirical terms so that the trainer and trainee can achieve clear goals, identify areas of progress, and meet the special needs of the trainee. This paper articulates the competencies, objectives, and criteria for evaluation used during a time-limited training program for therapists involved in family therapy research conducted at Centennial School of Lehigh University.     

On (not) listening for theory: the trainee’s use of theory as defence against the stress of beginning psychodynamic practice

This paper offers reflections on the trainee’s relationship with, and use of, theory in the early stages of psychodynamic practice. It addresses the issues of ‘listening for theory’ in the face of the unsettling, yet inevitable, stress and insecurity of beginning psychodynamic practice and the daunting awareness of the work being assessed by the training institution. While theory makes psychodynamic work possible and applying theory is explicitly welcomed in psychodynamic training, the paper argues that the unexamined use of theory is problematic as it, albeit unconsciously, is used by the trainee as a defensive retreat into a private mental sanctuary from the intimate, relational space of the consulting room and from the felt incompetence and inexperience aroused in the immediate encounter with the client. Exemplified through accounts of working with a particular client during my training, the paper examines the trainee’s evolving relationship with theory, in the light of what impedes and promotes therapeutic progress, as a significant marker of the trainee’s development to work psychodynamically.     

Learning from experience: Examining the impact of client work upon two trainee therapists

This qualitative research study, focusing on the learning and change of two trainee therapists over a nine‐month period, was conducted by the trainees themselves. In collecting and analysing their data, the researchers made use of the heuristic methodology, to which some of the principles of the co‐operative inquiry methodology were added. The findings shed light on some of the ways in which trainee counsellors and psychotherapists might learn through their work with clients, the forms and contexts in which this learning may arise, and how the learning might affect the trainees. The findings additionally highlight some of the possible benefits of engaging in research for trainee counsellors and psychotherapists, in terms of their roles as practitioners. These include positive changes in the ways in which they work with clients, and changes in the ways they think about their practice.     

督导重要事件对新手咨询师专业成长的影响

目的：了解个别督导过程中重要事件的类型、内涵及对新手咨询师专业成长的影响。方法：采用重要事件法,访谈4对受督者和督导师,并用共识性质性研究法分析。结果：有益重要事件包括督导关系、概念化、历程化、个人化4大类;督导促进了新手咨询师干预技巧能力、治疗计划目标等8个专业领域的成长。结论：督导对于新手咨询师专业成长非常重要。各类督导事件对于新手咨询师的促进作用并不均衡。     

督导重要事件对新手咨询师专业成长的影响

目的：了解个别督导过程中重要事件的类型、内涵及对新手咨询师专业成长的影响。方法：采用重要事件法，访谈4对受督者和督导师，并用共识性质性研究法分析。结果：有益重要事件包括督导关系、概念化、历程化、个人化4大类；督导促进了新手咨询师干预技巧能力、治疗计划目标等8个专业领域的成长。结论：督导对于新手咨询师专业成长非常重要。各类督导事件对于新手咨询师的促进作用并不均衡。     

The Personality Profile of Male and Female Trainee Readers in the Church of England Compared to Anglican Clergy: The 16PF

Cattell's 16PF questionnaire was completed by 57 male and 75 female trainee Readers of the Church of England and the profiles revealed significant differences between the personality attributes of trainee Readers and the general population. These data were compared to the profiles of clergy of the Church of England and, again, significant differences of personality were found and discussed in relation to ministry.     

The importance of case discussion in counsellor training

Case discussion is viewed as a central and integrating core of counsellor training, in that it brings together the 'theoretical', 'practical' and 'personal' components which form the basis of the training process. The aim of the trainer in case discussion is to help the trainee gain therapeutic understanding of the counselling relationship. This can be done at both micro and macro levels of analysis. An example is provided where a trainee was helped to view from a different perspective a counselling relationship that had become 'stuck'.     

Zur Dynamik der Interaktion in der Supervision

The manifold functions of a supervisor in following the course of complex processes together with the trainee, are: ? to keep the goals of the supervision in view, ? to establish a teaching alliance and to support the wish and ambitions of the candidate to learn, ? to build a platform for the complex interactions with the trainee with regard to the dynamics of the training situation and keeping in mind the institutional influences, ? to lay down the setting for the work, ? to explore and to reflect how transference and counter-transference influence the interaction between patient and analyst as well as between trainee and supervisor, ? to examine these interactions together focussing continuously on the interaction between candidate and patient, and to encourage the candidate to do the same on his own, ? to continuously formulate hypotheses about the core conflict, the transference phenomena and resistance of the patient, ? to explore and reflect on the cooperative work.     

The Relationship Between Counseling Trainee Perfectionism and the Working Alliance With Supervisor and Client

The relationships between perfectionism, counseling self‐efficacy, and the supervisory and client working alliance were investigated among 143 counseling trainees and 46 supervisor–trainee dyads. Maladaptive perfectionism was negatively correlated with the supervisory alliance and working alliance. Counseling self‐efficacy moderated the relationship between adaptive perfectionism and the supervisory alliance (perspective of the counseling trainee) and maladaptive perfectionism and the supervisory alliance (perspective of the supervisor). The authors conclude that supervisors should consider perfectionism and counseling self‐efficacy as important factors in supervision.