Reducing supervisee anxiety: Effects of a role induction intervention for clinical supervision

We investigated the effectiveness of a theoretically based role induction (RI) intervention that aimed to clarify supervisee and supervisor role expectations and reduce supervisee anxiety, compared to standard supervision (no-RI). Initially, a feasibility study investigated whether a RI for beginning supervisees would work in the context of a replicated single-subject experimental design; specifically, it assessed whether the RI condition (n = 2) would result in decreased anxiety compared to baseline and a no-RI condition (n = 2). Results suggested that the RI appeared viable and mitigated supervisee anxiety. To address the deficiencies of the feasibility study, for the main study, a more rigorous experimental multiple-baseline research design with randomization procedures was employed to test the effectiveness of the RI intervention for reducing supervisee anxiety in 2 developmentally different groups: beginning supervisees (n = 4) and predoctoral interns (n = 5). Specifically, this study investigated whether supervisee anxiety would be lower following the RI intervention for both groups and whether beginning supervisees would experience larger decreases in anxiety relative to interns. The 3 most salient findings were (a) the efficacy of a RI procedure for reducing the anxiety of novice counselor trainees was tentatively supported, (b) anxiety varied, sometimes markedly, from session to session, but nevertheless was not as pervasive as theorized, and (c) supervisee developmental level appeared to moderate the effects of the RI on supervisee anxiety, such that the RI decreased anxiety for most beginning supervisees and initially increased anxiety for interns. Implications for theory, research, and training are discussed.