Does live supervision make a difference? A multilevel analysis

Abstract

While the benefit of live supervision on clinical training is largely unquestioned, research that examines how live supervision affects the therapeutic process is lacking. Although marriage and family therapy has embraced this method of supervision, there is little empirical evidence suggesting it "works." This study uses hierarchical linear modeling to examine how therapy cases utilizing live supervision affect perceptions of progress on the problem. Findings indicated that live supervision does appear to make a difference for therapists' ratings of progress on the problem over the course of therapy; however, clients did not rate their progress as improving to the same degree. Implications for the use of live supervision as well as limitations of the study are discussed.