Supervisor Cultural Humility and Supervisee Nondisclosure: The Supervisory Working Alliance Matters

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Clinical Supervision
• Mental Health Training

Background:

• Many therapist trainees lack clinical work observation.
• Supervisee withholding of information hinders supervisor oversight and trainee development.
• Understanding factors influencing supervisee nondisclosure is crucial for effective clinical supervision.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between cultural humility, collaborative supervision, and supervisee nondisclosure.
• To examine the mediating role of the supervisory working alliance in these relationships.
• To differentiate between supervision-related and clinically-related nondisclosure.

Main Methods:

• A diverse sample of 214 applied psychology and allied mental health supervisees participated.
• Statistical analyses tested mediation models.
• Supervisee nondisclosure, cultural humility, collaborative supervision, and supervisory working alliance were assessed.

Main Results:

• Supervision-related nondisclosure was more common than clinically-related nondisclosure.
• Higher cultural humility was associated with lower supervisee nondisclosure.
• The supervisory working alliance fully mediated the effects of cultural humility and collaborative supervision on nondisclosure.

Conclusions:

• Cultural humility and collaborative supervision enhance the supervisory alliance, reducing supervisee nondisclosure.
• Strengthening the supervisory working alliance is key to mitigating risks associated with supervisee nondisclosure.
• Findings have significant implications for improving clinical supervision practices and therapist training.