Individual versus group supervision of counselor trainees

The present study consisted of an investigation of the effectiveness of individual versus group supervision of counselor trainees. Two measures of the development of a specific counseling skill (i.e., empathic responding) on the part of the counselor trainees were employed. Two additional measures addressed the feelings of the participants toward the overall process of supervision and their attitude toward their personal supervisor. The Carkhuff model of responding emphatically was selected for the study because it was easily taught and could be objectively measured. First, the persons who participated in both individual and group supervision were administered a paper and pencil pretest over the basic counseling skill of empathic responding as defined by the Carkhuff model. Following treatment all participants completed a parallel form posttest. Second, the two groups of participants presented a pretest audio-tape recording of their counseling skills. Following treatment all participants submitted a posttest audio-tape which demonstrated their counseling skills at the end of the study. The written tests and tapes were rated by a group of trained raters. Third, the two groups of participants completed a posttest semantic differential scale which reported perceptions of their overall supervisory experience. Fourth, a second semantic differential scale was completed which reported each of the participants' perceptions of the relationship with their individual or group supervisor.

Twenty-eight persons served as counselors, 56 persons served as clients, and 4 persons served as supervisors. Analysis of covariance procedures on the written and tape tests each failed to reject the hypothesis that individual and group supervision of counselor trainees were equally effective in teaching empathic responding as defined by the Carkhuff model. Two independent samples t tests on the semantic differential measures also failed to reject the hypothesis that the individual and group participants were equally satisfied with both their overall supervision experience and their supervisor. Inter- and intra-rater reliability was high.