Effectiveness of Indigenously Developed Clinical Supervision in Therapeutic Setting

Abstract

Clinical supervision is a process in which a supervisor assists the supervisee in reflecting their own clinical work in a therapeutic setting. In this regard, cultural competency is important in clinical supervision and religion plays a substantial role in culture. Therefore, the American Psychological Association has focused on religion in psychology. However, despite acceptance of the importance of religious integration into clinical practice, very few psychologists receive training, which is important for addressing the integration of religious values in therapeutic settings. Therefore, the current study was designed to assess the effectiveness of indigenously developed clinical supervision, based on the general guidelines of the development model of supervision. It was designed for an inclusive environment that respects diverse spiritual and religious perspectives. The study included 15 supervisees who received clinical supervision from trained clinical supervisors who were trained on an indigenously developed clinical supervision model. Supervisors provided regular supervision to the supervisee over a period of six months. The effectiveness of the protocol was measured by using the Clinical Skills Assessment Rating Form (CSA-RF). The CSA-RF is 32 items scale, facilitating in the measurement of the effectiveness of the protocol in the five domains of demonstrating professional therapeutic engagement, creating a secure base, formulation, facilitating mutual understanding and session structure. The results showed that the supervisee who received supervision through the indigenous clinical supervision protocol brought significant changes in their therapeutic skills (p=.001). These findings have significant implications in the development and implementation of mental health services, particularly in therapeutic settings.