Measuring Effectiveness of Supervision

By Nancy Langdon
Many of us at PBS wear the hat of “supervisor” or “supervisee.” These relationships are often formal arrangements with parameters specified by an outside organization, like the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). In this month’s training, Kaarin Anderson Ryan and Nancy Langdon discussed the effectiveness of supervision.

We are fortunate to work with practitioners from multiple disciplines, including Behavior Analysts, Certified Teachers, Clinical Psychologists, Mental Health Counselors, and Social Workers. While each profession has its own supervision guidelines, there are a number of commonalities among them. A general goal of supervision is to promote the growth and development of the supervisee through teaching. Protection of the client is an essential component of supervision. The supervisor must monitor the performance of trainees and act as a gatekeeper for the profession. Finally, the supervisor needs to empower the supervisee to practice independently. Historically, supervision was assumed to be almost “osmotic”-- that is, the supervisee absorbed information from the supervisor just through discussion. Today, supervision is recognized as a distinct competency, with a new emphasis on training a supervisor how to supervise.

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Practitioners from all areas perform a number of vital functions that should be supervised, including performing intakes, conducting assessments, and developing and implementing intervention. There are other issues that must be monitored as well, such as relationships between staff and clients, boundaries, verbal communication, and written documentation. Supervisors also provide guidance on ethics and legal issues. Supervision can occur individually or in groups. It can involve different modes of input such as supervisee self-report, videotaping of sessions, and direct observation.

There are a number of methods for measuring effectiveness of supervision. Competency-based assessments involve the use of benchmarks for evaluating progress. There are also many different questionnaires that measure satisfaction or effectiveness. There are tests of knowledge, like pretest/posttest measures. Finally, there are outcomes, including client improvement. It should be noted that these measures are all largely subjective, which is a weakness in the literature as a whole.

There are several characteristics of “good” supervision. First, it must be based on mutual trust and respect. Supervisees can be offered a choice of supervisor with regard to personal match, cultural needs, and area of expertise. There must be a shared understanding of the purpose of supervision, which should be documented in a contract. Supervisors should focus on enhancing knowledge and skills to encourage professional development and improve the delivery of services. Supervision should be deliberate and well-planned to cover important material as well as case issues. Supervisors need to keep in mind the needs of the trainee as well as the needs of the client. Meetings need to be held regularly, and ad-hoc meetings should be available as needed.

Supervision is important for several reasons beyond the development of the supervisee and client welfare. Supervision has been linked to job satisfaction and staff retention as well as an improvement in confidence and leadership skills. In addition, supervision reduces stress and anxiety and leads to a better working environment as well as an increased quality of care. It goes without saying that a lack of supervision can lead to negative outcomes for all involved. As we continue to improve our models of supervision, we encourage you to examine your own approach– either as a supervisor
or as a supervisee– and be deliberate– in what you are teaching, or in what you would like to learn.