MEASURING REFLECTIVE SUPERVISION WITHIN HOME VISITING: CHANGES IN SUPERVISORS' SELF-PERCEPTION OVER TIME

Area of Science:

• Early Childhood Education
• Professional Development
• Psychometrics

Background:

• Reflective supervision is widely believed to benefit early childhood professionals, but empirical evidence is limited.
• Effective reflective supervision for home visitors and their impact on families requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the psychometric properties of adapted self-report measures for assessing reflective supervision capacities.
• To determine if these measures can capture changes in reflective capacity over time.

Main Methods:

• Thirty-three home visiting supervisors and program managers participated.
• Four adapted self-report measures of reflective supervision capacities were administered.
• Participants engaged in professional development focused on reflective supervision.

Main Results:

• Three of the four measures showed acceptable internal consistency and were correlated.
• Two measures effectively captured significant changes in reflective capacity over time.
• Individuals with less education showed greater improvement in reflective supervision capacities.

Conclusions:

• The study offers initial evidence for reliable, efficient, and cost-effective self-report measures of supervisor reflective capacity.
• These measures can be utilized in research and program evaluation to assess changes in reflective supervision skills.
• Findings suggest potential for professional development to enhance reflective supervision in early childhood settings.