A description of group supervision in internships: A national study of programs accredited by CACREP

摘要

Counselor Education programs that are accredited by The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) must provide group supervision for students during their internship experience. To gain an understanding of what is currently taking place in group supervision during a student's internship experience in CACREP-accredited counselor education programs, descriptive and qualitative data were collected utilizing an online survey. To capture a profile of who is teaching group supervision as well as their qualifications and experience, the researcher gathered demographic data from 62 participants. All participants in the study had taught group supervision in a CACREP program within the last two years. The researcher found that more often than not full-time faculty was teaching group supervision. The researcher also gathered descriptive data across a number of the 2009 CACREP standards for conducting group supervision. The results indicated the following: (a) group supervision ranged from 1 to 3 hours (micro= 2) and was held weekly (83%), (b) instructors followed a scripted syllabus (62%), (c) on average there were 7.7 students in each group, (d) groups were structured by specialization (50%), and (e) ½ of group time was dedicated to planned material and ½ was dedicated to being flexible in order to meet students' immediate needs in supervision (48.7%). Although the participants were also asked to complete some open-ended questions in the study, few participants responded to these questions. This researcher sought to provide CACREP programs with a glimpse of how the standards are being applied in group supervision. Given the size of the sample, it is important for more research to be conducted to develop a strong profile of who is teaching and how group supervision practices are taking place within internships in CACREP-accredited programs nationally.