Aims: The purposes of this study were to examine: (1) the content of and reasons for trainee nondisclosure in supervision, and (2) the influence of trainee anxiety and perception of the supervisory working alliance on amount of nondisclosure and willingness to disclose. Method: As the focus of the study was a single supervision session, qualitative and quantitative data were collected from 204 trainees about their most recent supervision session. Results: Within the single supervision session on which they reported, 84.3% of trainees withheld information from their supervisors. Trainees reported an average of 2.68 nondisclosures occurring in the session, with the most common nondisclosure involving a negative supervision experience. Trainee perception of a better supervisory working alliance was related to less nondisclosure and greater overall willingness to disclose in supervision. Higher trainee anxiety was related to greater nondisclosure and lower overall willingness to disclose in supervision. Implications: The implications of the findings for the practice of supervision are discussed and areas for further research are suggested.

Although supervision is recognized as a significant tenant of professional growth for counseling and psychotherapy students, the variability of the effectiveness, or ineffectiveness, of supervision has come under scrutiny in recent times. Our sample of 128 participants shed light on the most effective (e.g., encouraged autonomy, strengthened the supervisory relationship, and facilitated open discussion) and most ineffective (e.g., depreciated supervision, performed ineffective client conceptualization and treatment, and weakened the supervisory relationship) supervisor skills, techniques, and behaviors. Moreover, effective and ineffective behaviors, along with best and worst supervisors, were significantly differentiated based on the supervisory working alliance, supervisor style, supervisor self-disclosure, supervisee nondisclosure, and supervisee evaluation. Implications for supervision competencies and supervisor accountability are discussed.

Structural equation modeling was used to investigate an overarching model of the interrelationships among a combined set of variables (i.e., trainee anxiety, supervisory working alliance, and counseling self-efficacy) related to trainee willingness to disclose in supervision. A modified version of the model satisfied the predetermined criteria for good fit to the observed data. The findings provided further empirical support for the relationships between higher counseling self-efficacy and less trainee anxiety, stronger supervisory working alliance and less trainee anxiety, and stronger supervisory working alliance and higher willingness to disclose. Empirical support was not found for a relationship between trainee anxiety and willingness to disclose or a relationship between counseling self-efficacy and willingness to disclose. Implications for practice and future research directions are discussed.

No abstract

No abstract