Student's feedback-seeking behavior: A blessing or burden for supervisors

Despite the extensively reported benefits of student's proactive feedback seeking behavior (FSB) from seeker's perspective, limited attention has been paid to its impact on feedback source i.e supervisors. This study, involving eight supervisors of MHPE program, aimed to explore the impact of student's FSB on supervisor's emotions, job satisfaction and emotional regulation strategies used by them.

To allow an in-depth exploration of this phenomenon, qualitative phenomenological study design was used, by conducting semi structured interviews with eight supervisors of Masters in Health Professions Education program at Riphah International University, Islamabad between April to June 2024. Thematic analysis was used to create data-driven codes and identify key themes.

The participants expressed that as supervisors, they experienced broad spectrum of positive and negative emotions. However, positive emotions were reported less frequently and were less diverse than negative emotions. All the supervisors indicated the need to regulate their emotions using antecedent-focused and response-focused strategies. Supervisors expressed that FSB enhanced their job satisfaction by virtue of helping their students.

Collectively findings of this study highlight that supervising a Master's program is a cognitive as well as emotional endeavor. Therefore, faculty development programs should also focus on developing emotional intelligence among supervisors.