Supervisory working alliance trajectories and client outcome in Chinese trainees

Creating a brief form of the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory in the Chinese cultural context using multilevel factor analyses.

“…Therefore, continuously measuring SWA may have important clinical implications. Similar to the rationale and empirical findings that providing outcome feedback to therapists may help increase the effectiveness of psychotherapy (Lambert et al, 2005; Reese et al, 2009), as recommended in Li, Lin, et al (2022), it likewise may be facilitative to routinely measure and monitor SWA and provide such feedback to the supervisors so as to increase the effectiveness of clinical supervision.…”

“…Gerstenblith et al (2021) used multilevel data disaggregation and found that trainee-rated SWA in supervision significantly correlated with their therapy working alliance or session quality as rated by their clients. Last, Li, Lin, et al (2022) examined the developmental trajectory of SWA over the course of supervision and found that trainees who reported a stable and increasing SWA developmental profile with their supervisors had significantly better client outcome in terms of client symptom relief than trainees who reported a “rupture and repair” (U-shaped) SWA developmental pattern or a “bonding and distancing” (inverse U-shaped) SWA pattern with their supervisors.…”

“…This trend calls for continued efforts and investments in training more clinically competent mental health professionals to meet the societal needs (Chen et al, 2016). Consequently, as a critical and integral component of therapist training, clinical supervision is also gaining more attention from researchers and practitioners in China (Li, Lin, et al, 2022). As argued previously, one way to enhance the effectiveness of supervision may be incorporating a feedback system in supervision (Lambert et al, 2005; Li, Lin, et al, 2022).…”

“…Consequently, as a critical and integral component of therapist training, clinical supervision is also gaining more attention from researchers and practitioners in China (Li, Lin, et al, 2022). As argued previously, one way to enhance the effectiveness of supervision may be incorporating a feedback system in supervision (Lambert et al, 2005; Li, Lin, et al, 2022). For instance, by assessing trainees’ perceptions of SWA continuously over the course of supervision, supervisors can track how their supervision process is going and identify any potential problems promptly as they arise.…”

“…Only a few existing studies (Chui et al, 2021; Li, Lin, et al, 2022; Yu et al, 2015) examined SWA in the Chinese culture, and these studies all used the translated SWAI (Efstation et al, 1990) as a measure of trainees’ perception of SWA in supervision. Despite the use of SWAI, several theoretical and analytical issues remain.…”