Supervision: The Residents’ Perspective

Abstract

Psychotherapy supervision is an essential aspect of psychiatric residency training. The authors surveyed the attitudes of the PGY I-IV psychiatry residents in the Baylor College of Medicine residency toward psychotherapy supervision. The results were compared to those of a previous nationwide survey of Canadian psychiatry residents. The Baylor residents identified three factors as the most important elements of satisfactory supervision: the supervisor's teaching ability, rapport between the supervisor and the trainee, and the supervisor's fund of knowledge.

“We Don't Get Fooled Again”…Or Do We? One Social Worker's Artistic Perspective on Supervisee Resistance and the Process of Meaning Making in Contemporary Psychodynamic Clinical Supervision

“…Is it not possible that, in adulthood, certain anxious individuals, when seeking security, may be proceeding with a type of pre-anthropomorphized self organization? While this idea continues to be debated in the attachment (Nahum, 2008), cognitive (Lewis & Carmody, 2008: Lewis, 2010Westen, 1998), and psychoanalytic (Modell, 2008;Stern, 2008b) literature, pan-disciplinary researchers (Bucky, Marques, Daly, Alley, & Karp, 2010;Dickson et al, 2011;Gray, Ladany, Walker, & Ancis, 2001;Jacobsen & Pedersen, 2009;Nelson, 1978;Nelson & Friedlander, 2001;Neswald-McCalip, 2001;Nigam, Cameron, & Leverette, 1997;Pate & Wolff, 1990) of actual supervisee preferences in supervision time and again paint an attachment picture of supervision. These researchers have accumulated overlapping data in which supervisees repeatedly associate good supervision with qualities of competence, acceptance, support, and consistency in a supervisor who supports supervisee autonomy.…”

The Ineffective Psychotherapy Supervisor

“…That avenue of pursuit has led to a number of survey or qualitative studies (Allen, Szollos, & Williams, 1986;Carifio & Hess, 1987;Gale, 1976;Hutt, Scott, & King, 1983;Kennard, Stewart, & Gluck, 1987;Nelson, 1978;Pate & Wolff, 1990;Perez, Krul, & Kapoor, 1984;Shanfield, Matthews, & Hetherly, 1993), with supervisees often being asked what supervisor characteristics they most liked or valued. Results of those studies have led to the development of a ''good supervisor profile'' of sorts, with the following facets being regarded as important: Empathic, supportive, flexible, instructive, knowledgeable, interested in supervision, specific, tracks supervisees well, interpretive, respectful, focused, and practical.…”