Clinical supervision for clinical psychology students in Uganda: an initial qualitative exploration

Abstract

BackgroundBurn out in clinical psychologists working in low income countries has been reported. Clinical supervisory structures do not yet exist in Uganda. A way to decrease levels of burn out and increase quality of care for people with mental illness is through clinical supervision. The aim of this study was to explore the initial experiences of supervision for clinical psychology students in Uganda to ascertain whether or not clinical supervision is culturally appropriate, and what aspects of supervision had been helpful and unhelpful.MethodsA qualitative design with thematic analysis was utilized. A focus group was held with 12 second year clinical psychology students to ask their experiences of receiving supervision.ResultsData analysis created five themes. Firstly, the negative emotions that resulted from the training processed were discussed, and how supervision helped and did not help the students to manage these. Secondly, the students voiced that supervision helped them to learn through observational experiences, co-therapist roles and parallel processes within the supervisory relationship. Thirdly, supervision had taught the clinical psychology students their role as a clinical psychology student, how to act within the Ugandan mental health system and skills to conduct therapy. Fourthly, suggestions for the future of supervision were given, with the students requesting for it to start earlier in the training, for supervisors who can meet with the students on a regular basis to be selected and for the training the students receive at university to match the skills required on their placements, with a request for more practical techniques rather than theory. The final theme related to left over miscellaneous data, such as the students agreeing with each other.ConclusionsThe students stated that supervision was helpful overall, implying that clinical supervision is culturally appropriate for clinical psychology students in Uganda. Suggestions for future supervision were given. In order to decrease high levels of staff burn out in the mental health systems in Uganda, supervisory structures with an emphasis on self care need to be established.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13033-015-0016-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Prevalence of burnout in mental health nurses and related factors: a systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Responsibility for these organizational factors that influence burnout is shared among the nurses' managers (Lahana et al ) and the employer (Aronsson et al ), which should provide resources to avoid such problems or at least provide appropriate facilities (Yang et al ). In another respect, clinical supervision, which enables knowledge development and competence by professional support and learning, is a useful vehicle for demonstrating support for healthcare personnel (Edwards et al ; Hall et al ).…”

Counsellor training and supervision in Uganda

“…Uganda experienced a number of civil wars in various parts of the country between 1980 and 2006. It has also experienced a HIV and AIDS pandemic in the last four decades and rising levels of unemployment and poverty leaving the population with serious psychosocial problems (Hall et al 2015;Senyonyi et al 2012). These problems include trauma, a growing number of refugees, child abuse, work and marital-related stress, rape, and widespread depression (Hall et al 2015).…”

“…It has also experienced a HIV and AIDS pandemic in the last four decades and rising levels of unemployment and poverty leaving the population with serious psychosocial problems (Hall et al 2015;Senyonyi et al 2012). These problems include trauma, a growing number of refugees, child abuse, work and marital-related stress, rape, and widespread depression (Hall et al 2015). In the mid-1990s, higher education institutions in Uganda began training professional counsellors to meet the rising mental health needs of the population (Nsereko 2017).…”

International Perspectives on Psychotherapy

“…It is of interest to note that only 28% of applied psychology programmes in African countries include clinical supervision as a component of their training (WHO, 2010). This is probably primarily due to the severe limitation in human resources in mental health; as well as the lack of specialists to provide on-site training (Hall, Kasujja, & Oakes, 2015).…”

“…Recently, the University of Gondar launched the first Master of Africa Arts in clinical psychology in Ethiopia, a 2-year programme that aims to produce graduates skilled in science, theory and practice (Wondie, 2014). Similarly, Makarere University in Uganda also offers a Master's in clinical psychology of 2 years' duration (Hall et al, 2014(Hall et al, , 2015 and a professional association exists but membership is open to anyone with a bachelor's level education in psychology (Hall et al, 2014). Zimbabwe's universities offer degrees in psychology, up to master's degree level but there is no clear differentiation between various sub-disciplines (no specific category for clinical psychologists exists), which is echoed in the broad nature of the national regulatory body's licensing category for psychologists (AHPZ, 2015).…”