Clinical supervisors’ experiences with and barriers to supporting trainees who have experienced identity based harassment.

Abstract

The healthcare literature suggests that a majority of trainees experience some form of harassment based on an aspect of identity (Cencirulo et al., 2020;Fnais et al., 2014). However, there is very little research on the experiences of clinical supervisors who support trainees who experience harassment, and the existing literature tends to focus on sexual or gender-based harassment (deMayo, 2000;Hartl et al., 2007). The following study aimed to fill this gap by collecting information from clinical supervisors (N = 28) within a psychology training program located within a VA Medical Healthcare System in the Northeast. Most supervisors reported harassment of trainees is a problem at their facility (82.1%), had directly witnessed harassment of trainees (64.3%), and had experienced harassment themselves (82.1%). Most (89.3%) reported discussing harassment with a trainee on at least one occasion. On average, supervisors reported being very likely to initiate such a discussion. Six themes emerged regarding barriers that supervisors identified to discussing harassment with trainees: (1) Lack of Knowledge or Skill, (2) Trainee Factors, (3) Limitations of Supervision, (4), Negative Feelings, (5) Relational Issues, and (6) Negative Outcomes. We discuss recommendations for both supervisors and training committees that directly address these barriers. Public Significance StatementThis study provides information on experiences of clinical supervisors in supporting psychology trainees who have experienced harassment based on identity, including qualitative analysis of barriers experienced by supervisors in discussing harassment with trainees. Recommendations are provided to supervisors and training programs that can address these barriers.

The development of the Respect4All program.

“…Not surprisingly, RIMAs have been recognized as a prevalent, problematic issue within supervisor–supervisee relationships within health service psychology (HSP hereafter) training programs and other related graduate programs (Adams et al, 2022; Council of Chairs of Training Councils, 2021). Historically marginalized individuals occupying vulnerable or less secure positions (supervisees, frontline staff, and pretenured junior faculty) are often subjected to RIMAs, while the victims’ supervisors, such as tenured faculty, department chairs, and program directors, are more likely to act as perpetrators (e.g., Ogunyemi et al, 2020).…”

“…Despite the central role of HSP supervisors in shaping the professional growth of psychologists-in-training (e.g., Enlow et al, 2019), trainees are often concerned with being judged as being “too sensitive” and even worse, with damaging their career in making disclosures to supervisors who might be directly or indirectly involved in the microaggression incidents themselves (Bautista-Biddle et al, 2021). Meanwhile, one major challenge that supervisors have reported is their own lack of knowledge and skills in recognizing RIMAs, especially when perpetrated by themselves, and in navigating challenging race-related discussions (Adams et al, 2022; Bertsch et al, 2014).…”