Claus Haugaard Jacobsen

Nondisclosure in psychotherapy group supervision: The supervisee perspective

The aim of this study was to investigate aspects of nondisclosure in a sample of 55 student therapists, working within a group format of supervision. The study constituted one part of a larger study, with the other, parallel part addressing nondisclosure in supervisors. The participants were recruited from seven university-based training clinics in Norway and Denmark. The supervisees answered a questionnaire comprising 11 items about nondisclosure in supervision. The items were answered in a yes/no format, and the respondents were invited to provide examples and justifications for their answers to each item. The examples and justifications provided were analysed in accordance with Hill’s guidelines for consensual qualitative research. The study confirmed significant nondisclosure by supervisees in a number of important areas. A high percentage found it difficult to talk about topics related to the supervisory relationship, fearing that they would hurt their supervisor or be met with criticism or interpretation. They were also reluctant to talk to their supervisors about professional matters, particularly related to the perceived incompetence of their supervisors and their expectancy of non-constructive criticism. They felt that their supervisors withheld feedback on their work, as well as advise on what to do, and would like more of this. Several of them thought of the lack of feedback as a conscious strategy helping the students to find out for themselves. A rather striking finding was that a high number of students experienced that the groups became more closed throughout the supervision, and blamed their supervisors for inadequate handling of the group process. This is an issue that needs further exploration.Supervisee non-disclosure in psychotherapy group supervision: The supervisee perspective

Beginning therapists’ experiences of what constitutes good and bad psychotherapy supervision

This article presents a phenomenological study that was conducted as a series of semi-structured qualitative research interviews with eight student therapists, just two months after their debut in this role. Thematically, the interviews focused on specific examples of good and bad supervisory events. Also included were the importance of peers in the supervision group and the organisational setting of the supervision. The objective was to give detailed descriptions in the form of condensed narratives of each student’s preferences concerning supervision. Furthermore, a cross-sectional analysis was conducted, in order to determine what typically characterized this sample. As expected, we both found major individual differences, but also similarities within and across the sample that confirm previous findings in the literature. With respect to the latter, our findings are very close to those in the existing literature in the field. The beginning therapists prefer supervision in which advice and clear and specific instructions are given on how to do the job, where theoretical considerations are included, and the supervisor supports, affirms and structures the sessions. However, of particular interest are the major individual differences that emerged. These are conspicuous in the presented narratives of each student therapist. Thus, to some therapists, seemingly frustrating supervisory experiences turned out to be very helpful. Role modelling and the parallel process also were found to be of importance for learning. A practical implication of these differences is that supervisors should not merely follow the general directions given in the literature for supervising beginning therapists, but need to adapt at least partly to each supervisee in order to create an optimal learning experience. The limitations of this study are the relatively small sample and the fact that the interviewers were part of the institution in which the supervisory practice takes place, causing at least some students to be restrained in their criticism.

A qualitative single case study of parallel processes

Parallel process in psychotherapy and supervision is a phenomenon manifest in relationships and interactions, that originates in one setting and is reflected in another. This article presents an explorative single case study of parallel processes based on qualitative analyses of two successive randomly chosen psychotherapy sessions with a schizophrenic patient and the supervision session given in between. The authors analysis is verified by an independent examiners analysis. Parallel processes are identified and described. Reflections on the dynamics of parallel processes and supervisory interventions are reported and discussed.

Mutual assumptions and facts about nondisclosure among clinical supervisors and students in group supervision: A comparative analysis

In the two preceding papers in this issue of Nordic Psychology the authors report findings from studies of nondisclosure among student therapists and clinical supervisors. The findings were reported separately for each group. In this article, the two sets of findings are compared, so as to draw a picture of mutual assumptions and facts about nondisclosure among students and supervisors.

Novice supervisors' tasks and training – A descriptive study

The debut as a clinical supervisor is still rather unknown. The aim of this study is to explore what kind of tasks novice supervisors undertake and how they are prepared for these. During 2009–2010, 350 Danish clinical psychologists have responded to the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire covering a wide range of items on professional development, experience and practice. In this paper, we focus on background data (experience, training and practice), specifically the tasks and training of the respondents as novice supervisors. The results show that a majority of novice supervisors were confronted with complicated tasks, e.g. group, internal and interdisciplinary supervision, but were not prepared, i.e. trained, prior to these tasks. These findings imply that more training is needed for novice supervisors. Preferably, this training should be introduced before, or at least parallel to, the first supervisor tasks, preparing the novice supervisors for the often complicated tasks they are meeting.

Danish Psychologists as Psychotherapists: Professional, Demographic and Personal Characteristics, and Change in Theoretical Orientations

Psychologists are by far the biggest group of professional psychotherapists in Denmark, and this article presents data from two samples of psychologist psychotherapists collected at an interval of 15 years. The subjects in both samples responded to the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire (DPCCQ). This study aims to give a first overview of the samples describing their professional, practice, demographic and personal characteristics, and also provides a view of changes in the prevalence of different theoretical orientations in the samples collected in 1993–1995 and 2009–2010. The samples consist mainly of mature adults who are highly experienced therapists. An apparent historical shift from many years of analytic/psychodynamic dominance to a major growth in interest in cognitive therapies is documented. Both orientations are currently equally salient among the therapists, and further analysis suggests a possible future scenario with cognitive dominance. Personal and demographical characteristics are presented, including data on current life satisfaction and current life stress. Suggestions for further analysis of DPCCQ data are given.

Nordic Perspectives on Supervision and Supervision Research

It is a pleasure for us to welcome the readers to this special issue of Nordic Psychology on supervision. Nordic Psychology continuously covers the field of supervision. besides bringing articles in current issues, a previous special issue on supervision was launched in 2004 (vol. 56, no. 2, July). The presence of a special issue on supervision in 2009 reflects the international trend, where supervision is more and more frequently put on the agenda. Notably, an increasing interest for research in supervision and psychotherapy training is seen. Thus, these subjects were given highest priority at The Society of Psychotherapy Research’s annual international conference in Chile this summer. On the Nordic scene, many initiatives are currently seen. In the autumn of 2008 the 2nd Danish Conference on Supervision was held in Copenhagen with participation and contributions from Scandinavia, great britain and the uSA. Perhaps, this will become a Nordic tradition to be continued in one of the other Scandinavian countries before long? both Sweden and Norway have very strong ongoing research as well as clinical training in this field. In Sweden, Ögren and colleagues contribute substantially to the supervisory field with their recognized research on group supervision. It was in fact Carlsson, another Swede, who took the initiative to establish a special section for training and supervision under The Society of Psychotherapy Research. In Norway, as a part of the research on training and supervision at Oslo university, Strømme has recently delivered her dissertation on psychology students’ helplessness when acquiring dynamic psychotherapeutic competences. Rønnestad & Reichelt’s book on clinical supervision from 1999 is currently being revised. This issue of Nordic Psychology represents some of the many research initiatives in bergen and Oslo on training and supervision. In Finland a number of universities have established a consortium about developing common criteria for psychotherapy training programs and furthermore, Laitila is forming a list of generic learning outcomes (competencies) that will provide an evaluation tool to EDITORIAL