Impact of faculty supervisor variables on client outcomes

What is it about?

In addition to assisting with the development of essential competencies for professional practice, growing evidence indicates that supervision may also significantly contribute to client outcomes. However, to date, there have been no explorations of specific supervisor variables that may help us to understand the supervision–client outcome relationship. The current study sought to address this gap in the emerging literature by drawing archival data associated with discharged clients from a large training clinic. Given the available data, we were able to explore 2 supervisor variables in terms of their relationships with client outcomes: 1) faculty status and 2) time elapsed since the supervisor attained his or her doctoral degree. The results replicate earlier findings demonstrating that supervisors contribute significantly to client outcomes. Exploration of specific supervisor variables indicates that faculty status is not meaningfully associated with client outcomes. However, the length of time that has elapsed since the supervisor attained his or her doctoral degree is salient, with more recent graduates associated with better client outcomes. Additional research is strongly encouraged in this understudied area, with particular attention to examining the role of supervisor training and supervisory competence.

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