Group supervision is a distinct supervisor competency: empirical evidence and a brief scale for supervisory practice

Objectives There is strong endorsement of competency-based frameworks for practitioner training and widespread use of group supervision in practitioner training. However, there has been little effort made to understand the components and anatomy of group supervision, or efforts made to evaluate its efficacy. The current study investigates the nature and extent to which abilities and skills within individual and group supervision are similar or distinct from each other. Method A total of 98 supervisees, across 21 groups, evaluated individual and group supervisor competence of their supervisors (N = 11) using the Supervision Evaluation and Supervisor Competence Scale. Results Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed that group supervision emerged as a distinct and independent cluster to individual supervision competencies. Additionally, supervisors were rated higher on individual than group supervision competencies. Conclusion Group supervision should be considered a distinct competency requiring specific skills and therefore would likely benefit from specialised training to deliver competent group supervision. These preliminary results have implications for supervisor training, as well as clinical training programs in Australia and abroad who use group supervision as a form of clinical training.

Automated summary

This study investigates the differences in abilities and skills between individual and group supervision, finding that group supervision should be considered as a distinct competency that may require specialized training. The results have important implications for supervisor training and clinical training programs.