Educationally corrective experiences as a common factor in psychotherapy supervision.

Abstract

Just as there is the corrective treatment experience in psychotherapy (Goldfried, 1991(Goldfried, , 2012, might there be an educationally purposed corrective experience in psychotherapy supervision? I subsequently consider that question, proposing that the educationally corrective experience (ECE) is a core common factor that is integral to all forms of psychotherapy supervision. Although "correction" routinely occurs in supervision (e.g., pointing out an item of misinformation, delivering corrective feedback), the ECE is defined as a deliberate learning event that involves a common process of action: It is intentional and instructive, having beginning, middle, and end points (i.e., identification and assessment, engagement and intervention, and follow-up and consolidation). In what follows, I elaborate upon the ECE, identify its fundamental supervision purposes, identify its process as a potential learning instigator and developmental maximizer, and provide 3 competency-anchored practice examples. Whatever the model of supervision deployed, wherever supervision proves effective, I contend that ECEs forever have a preeminent place in realizing that outcome.

An empirical analysis of corrective experiences in psychotherapy supervision.

“…Converging evidence from minute-by-minute NEPCS-S coding data and supervisee self-report data suggests that supervisees in this study underwent both CEEs (Castonguay & Hill, 2012) and ECEs (Watkins, 2018). The NEPCS has been used in a previous psychotherapy study to establish evidence and timing of CEEs (Friedlander et al, 2018;Levenson et al, 2020).…”

“…The CEE definition was adapted from Castonguay and Hill’s (2012) definition, as it represents a modern, transtheoretical understanding of the construct, which can come about a variety of ways (not just through traditional psychoanalysis). The definition of the ECE was adapted from an article on the topic by Watkins (2018), in consultation with Watkins (personal communication 2021). Supervisees were asked four questions to explicate their experiences retrospectively to their CEEs and ECEs: (a) What was going on internally for you?…”

“…Watkins (2018) has asserted that supervisor interventions aimed at improving students’ clinical knowledge, skills, or attitudes/values may be conceptualized as ECEs. He broadly defined an ECE as a deliberate learning event that involves a common process of action, and outlined six main steps that occur in these events: “(a) performance target is identified; (b) that target is judged to be in need of change or improvement; (c) that judgment is shared, and collaboration in addressing the performance target is sought and ideally obtained; (d) some sort of intervention is implemented; (e) collaborative discussion ensues about the target behavior, intervention, and performance implications; and (f) follow-up occurs in an effort to further consolidate learning” (Watkins, 2018, p. 244). Watkins (2019) also offers a useful construct—transformative learning—that provides a framework for understanding the trainee’s complex development during clinical training.…”

“…In addition, subjective experiences of CEEs were collected by self-report data from all 11 supervisees. Analyses indicate that CEEs are significant learning events that occur across different approaches to supervision, and that trainees can reliably distinguish between CEEs and educationally corrective experiences (Watkins, 2018). Results also indicate that trainee-identified CEEs parallel the CEEs identified by the NEPCS markers.…”

Conquering the maternal wall: Trainee perspectives on supervisory behaviors that assist in managing the challenges of new parenthood during clinical internship.

“…Competing Identities Watkins (2018) hypothesized that educationally corrective experiences are a core common factor integral to supervision. The supervisory relationship is one in which supervisors may be privy to both trainees' strengths and well as trainees' self-defeating ideas and behaviors that impede professional development.…”