Effects of Second Language Usage on Genetic Counseling Training and Supervision

Abstract

We conducted an exploratory study of the experiences of genetic counselors who have either trained or supervised in a second language to assess the relevance of this issue to genetic counseling training and supervision. Two hundred-thirty NSGC members, CAGC members and genetic counseling students completed the online questionnaire. Many of the respondents reported that training and supervision differed when another language was involved. Supervisors reported difficulty in assessing students' counseling skills and discomfort with an incomplete understanding of session content. Students described a greater focus on vocabulary at the expense of psychosocial dimensions. Despite this, most felt that using another language enhanced their training experience. As such, training programs might consider increasing support to these learners and supervisors by explicitly acknowledging the challenges they face, providing students with language tools to aid in their acquisition of basic skills and providing supervisors with new methods for assessing student counseling skills when using other languages.

Supervision in genetic counselor training in North America: A systematic review

“…The plurality of papers in the GC supervision field are surrounding some of these difficulties. These six papers included the following: compassion fatigue/burnout from being a supervisor (Allsbrook et al, ), boundary issues (Gu, McCarthy Veach, Eubanks, LeRoy, & Callanan, ), multiculturalism/competence (Kyung Lee, McCarthy Veach, & LeRoy, ), anxiety (MacFarlane, McCarthy Veach, Grier, Meister, & LeRoy, ), games (McIntosh, Dircks, Fitzpatrick, & Shuman, ), and language issues (Vanneste et al, ). Each of these papers explored difficult aspects of the GC supervisor/student relationship, but all either suggest increasing the supervision working alliance or working with the GC program to identify ways to leverage existing resources to provide supervision training.…”

“…Supervisors may not know background information, such as total number of cases that are usually seen per student during the program or remediation policies (Berg et al, ; Lindh et al, ). Not having this information could lead to barriers to becoming supervisors. Include information about and solutions to previously identified Difficulties in Supervision: Increase supervisors' confidence and provide resources to address compassion fatigue and trait anxiety, ways to recognize these and seek help (Allsbrook et al, ). Boundary issues and resolution (e.g., through an informed consent document; Gu et al, ). Include cultural competency in the rotation (e.g., drawing attention to when sessions are tailored to the cultural identity of the patient/family/student; Kyung Lee et al, ). Recognize student anxiety is normal, how to use the SWA to decrease anxiety, and how to provide useful feedback (MacFarlane et al, ). Define supervision and student “games,” examples from each side, and how to spot and stop a game from continuing (McIntosh et al, ). Raise awareness of the needs of multilingual GC students and possible issues GC students and supervisors might face when another language is involved in supervision and training (Vanneste et al, ). …”

“…• Raise awareness of the needs of multilingual GC students and possible issues GC students and supervisors might face when another language is involved in supervision and training (Vanneste et al, 2013a).…”

Genetic Counseling Supervisors’ Self‐Efficacy for Select Clinical Supervision Competencies

“…They recommended implementing specific training in supervision to build confidence and enhance supervisory skills, thereby alleviating these types of negative interactions with student supervisees. Vanneste et al (2013) suggested supervisor training could support new initiatives to increase diversity in the field of genetic counseling. Specifically, supervision training focused on bilingual genetic counseling student skill development would be beneficial for both supervisors and students.…”

Effects of Anxiety on Novice Genetic Counseling Students’ Experience of Supervised Clinical Rotations

“…Anxiety related to supervision has been called Ba given…which must be taken into consideration by supervisors^ (Borders et al 2006, p. 212) and described as normative in genetic counseling (e.g., McCarthy Veach et al 2003;Wherley et al 2015) as well as in related fields such as medicine (e.g., Hajek et al 2000;Jiang et al 2003;Sarikaya et al 2006) and mental health (e.g., Bernard and Goodyear 2009;Skovholt and Ronnestad 2003;Stoltenberg and Delworth 1987). Anxiety has been shown to affect genetic counseling supervision from both the supervisors' perspective (Lindh et al 2003) and the students' perspective (Hendrickson et al 2002); it has been linked to Bgames^played in supervision by supervisees and supervisors (McIntosh et al 2006); and it may increase when counseling in a second language (Vanneste et al 2013). As literature on supervision continues to grow and become more empirically-based (cf.…”