0675 Relationships Between Perceived Supervisory Needs

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0675    Relationships Between Perceived
Supervisory Needs Practicum Outcome Measurements

•  Pam Hart PhD CCC-SLP Rockhurst University
• Greg Turner PhD CCC-SLP University of Central
  Missouri
• Blaine Duesing MS CCC-SLP
• Deborah Galley MS CCC-AUD
• Carl Harlan PhD CCC-SLP
• Joni Turner MS CCC-SLP
• Jim Wilson PhD CCC-SLP
• Beverly Jean Zimmer MS CCC-SLP
• Robert de Jonge PhD CCC-AUD

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Rationale

• Preprofessional programs must demonstrate how the
  nature and amount of supervision are
  individualized to address the particular needs of
  each student (ASHA 2008 Standards for
  Accreditation).
• To this end, predictive tools are needed to
  assist with early identification of student
  clinicians who require additional support.

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Background

• The study of supervisory practices and impact on
  student clinician performance has received
  scattered attention over the past several
  decades. Researchers have investigated areas such
  as
• Supervisor Perceptions and Behaviors
• Supervisee Perceptions and Behaviors
• Interactions between Supervisors and Supervisees

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• Supervisor Perceptions and Behaviors
• Descriptive Research Findings Based on McCrea
  Brasseur (2003)
• Supervisors tend to assume the dominant role in
  the process.
• Conferences between supervisors and supervisees
  consist of the supervisee providing an account of
  what happened during the therapy session and the
  supervisor providing suggestions concerning ways
  to improve clinical delivery by the supervisee.
• Supervisor style in conferences tends to be about
  the same from conference to conference whether
  the supervisee has extensive or limited previous
  experience.

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• Supervisee Perceptions and Behaviors
• Investigations of the needs and expectations of
  student clinicians have found that students vary
  in needs and expectations relative to amount of
  experience
• Clinicians with more experience expect to be more
  actively involved in supervisory conferences and
  to have opportunities to express their opinions
  (Larson, 1981)
• As clinical experience increases, supervisees
  expect less direction from the supervisor and
  greater opportunities to assume control (McCrea
  Brasseur, 2003 Tihen, 1983).

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• Mismatch
• There is a mismatch between the findings that
  supervisors tend to maintain the same behaviors
  in interactions with supervisees regardless of
  the supervisees previous experience, and the
  findings that supervisees expect these
  interactions to change as a result of experience.
  
• Predictive tools to assist with determinations of
  supervisee needs and characteristics prior to
  beginning a practicum placement would be helpful
  in determining the direction and level of
  supervision.

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Purpose

• The purpose of this study was to analyze
  predictive relationships among student clinician
  responses to a modified version of Larsons
  Supervisory Needs Rating Scale (1982) and student
  characteristics including
• GPA
• KASA Clinical Rating Score
• Practicum Grade
• Number of previous semesters in clinic
• Number of clinical clock hours obtained
• Undergraduate or Graduate Student Level

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Method

• Participants
• 38 students enrolled in clinical practicum
  experiences at a university training program
• Participation in the study was on a volunteer
  basis
• Students varied with regard to
• Previous clinical experience
• Previous coursework
• Client population (i.e., age type of disorder)
• Assigned clinical instructor

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• Data Collection
• Students completed the modified version of
  Larsons Supervisory Needs Rating Scale a few
  weeks after receiving their clinical assignments.
  

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Larsons Supervisory Needs Rating Scale
Modified from Circle the number that best
represents your level of agreement with the
following statements. The numbers correspond to
the following categories 1.Strongly Disagree
2. Disagree 3. Neutral 4. Agree 5.
Strongly Agree
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Larson, L. (1982) found in McCrea, E.S.,
Brasseur, J.A. (2003). The supervisory process in
speech-language pathology. Boston Pearson
Education Inc.
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• At the end of the 15 week semester, data was
  collect across student characteristics of
• GPA
• KASA Clinical Rating Score
• Practicum Grade
• Number of previous semesters in clinic
• Number of clinical clock hours obtained
• Undergraduate or Graduate student level

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Data Analysis

• Reliability of Student Responses to Survey
• Factor Analysis of Responses to Survey Items
• Correlations between Factors and
• GPA
• KASA Clinical Rating Score
• Practicum Grade
• Number of previous semesters in clinic
• Number of clinical clock hours obtained
• Undergraduate or Graduate Student Level

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Results

• Reliability of Student Responses
• SPSS 13.0 was used to determine the correlations
  between five pairs of questions worded with the
  original statement and the opposite of the
  original statement (for example see statements 4
  17 on the Supervisory Needs Rating Scale).
• Strong inverse relationships ranging from -.6 to
  -.8 were identified for each pair, indicating
  good reliability of student responses to survey
  items.

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• Factor Analysis with SPSS 13.0 was used to define
  dimensions of the Supervisory Needs Rating Scale.
  
• Eight Eigenvalues gt1 were identified
• Further analysis using the scree test indicated
  two factors

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• Interpretation of the factors based on loadings gt
  .4 indicated that questions 6,8,11, and 28 were
  associated with the first factor while questions
  2,3,5,13,15,20, 23, and 27 were associated with
  the second factor.
• Based on the content of these two sets of items,
  the two factors were named
• Supervisory Instructional Behaviors
• Supervisory Communication Behaviors

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• Supervisory Instructional Behaviors
• The supervisor should
• 1) meet immediately after therapy
• 2) function as teacher
• 3) demonstrate clinical techniques
• 4) motivate me for highest performance

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• Supervisory Communication Behaviors
• The supervisor should
• 1) pay attention to what I say
• 2) listen to clinical needs
• 3) use supervisees ideas
• 4) listen to professional difficulties
• 5) discuss weaknesses
• 6) freely express opinions
• 7) listen to personal problems
• 8) be supportive

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• Correlations between the two factors and the
  following variables were calculated
• GPA (GPA)
• KASA Clinical Rating Score (KASA)
• Practicum Grade (Grade)
• Number of previous semesters in clinic (Prev)
• Number of clinical clock hours obtained (Hours)
• Undergraduate or Graduate Level (Level)

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Summary of Results Implications

• The two factors, Supervisory Instructional
  Behaviors and Supervisory Communication
  Behaviors, exhibited a significant moderately
  positive correlation
• This moderate correlation suggests shared
  variance between the factors, indicating future
  analysis should focus on delineating a possible
  reduction of needs statements within the
  development of a predictive model of supervision
  to eliminate redundancy.

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Summary of Results and Implications

• In comparison to early work completed by Larson
  (1982), the present study failed to note stronger
  needs for the inexperienced clinician compared to
  the experienced.
• However, the needs of the students noted in the
  Larson study were very similar to the needs of
  the students in the present study.

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Summary of Results and Implications

• In terms of evaluating associations between
  student characteristics (e.g., amount of clinical
  clock hours) and the two factors, only
  Supervisory Instructional Behaviors and GPA were
  significantly negatively correlated.
• Overall, students with lower GPAs expected
  supervisors to be more directive and
  instructional.
• Otherwise, KASA Clinical Rating Score, practicum
  grade, number of previous semester hours in
  clinic, number of clinical clock hours obtained,
  or being a graduate or undergraduate student
  failed to be significantly related to the two
  factors.

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Future Research

• Future research should continue to explore the
  predictive nature of the relationship between
  responses to tools such as the rating scale used
  in this study and variables such as GPA in the
  early identification of student clinicians who
  require extra support.
• In addition, studies aimed at providing clinical
  instruction targeting needs as a way of
  documenting effectiveness of clinical instruction
  should be undertaken.

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References

• Larson, L. (1981). Perceived supervisory needs
  and expectations of experienced vs. inexperienced
  student clinicians. Doctoral dissertation,
  Indiana University.
• McCrea, E. Brasseur, J. (2003). The supervisory
  process in speech-language pathology and
  audiology. Pearson Education, Boston MA.
• Tihen, L. (1983). Expectations of students
  speech-language clinicians during their clinical
  practicum. Doctoral dissertation, Indiana
  University.