Supervisors' Theory and Experience in Supervisory Focus
Some ( 1, 3 ) argue that clinical supervision has three central foci: the person of the supervisee, i.e.. attitudes/values, areas of vulnerability (Focus 1); the supervisee's technical skills and techniques (Focus 2 ) ; and the supervisee's conceptudizarion of clients' problems (Focus 3 ) . While the effective supervisor utilizes all three, these foci are differentially emphasized in any given supervisory relationship. Goodyear and Bradley ( 3 ) speculate that the supervisor's theoretical model will moderate the extent to which the foci are each emphasized. This exploratory study tested that hypothesis. Universiry counseling center staff ( N = 8 4 ) with supervisory experience provided information about their theoretical orientations, years of professional experience, number of supervisees seen, and the percentage weight for each focus used in evaluating their supervisees. Subjects were the 67 supervisors who indicated they held behavioral or cognitive-behavioral ( 2 0 ) , eclectic (40 ) , or psychoanalytic ( 7 ) views. Weights given each focus by the three groups of supervisors were compared by one-way analyses of variance. While no differences were found for Foci 1 and 3, supervisors differed ( F = 3.84, p < .03) in stress on Focus 2 : behavioral supervisors emphasized Focus 2 more than eclectic and psychoanalytic ones. . Data were next analyzed by three 2 (supervisors' views: behavioral vs eclectic) X 2 (years experience: L 8 vs 2 9 yr.) analyses of variance and by three 2 (supervisors' views: behavioral vs eclectic) X 2 (number of supervisees: L 2 4 vs h25) analyses. In each set of analyses the only significant main effect ( 9 < .04) was for Focus 2: behavioral supervisors stressed skills more heavily. Also, in the second set of analyses, zn interaction was significant ( p < .03) for Focus 2. Examining that interaction, behavioral supervisors who had seen fewer supervisees stressed Focus 2 more than did behavioral supervisors who had seen more supervisees ( p < .Ol) or eclectic supervisors who had seen fewer supervisees (p < .01). Those behavioral and eclectic supervisors who had seen more supervisees did not differ. These results are based only on selfreports but provide preliminary evidence that supervisors' views influence their focus. As in Fiedler's ( 2 ) srudy of therapists, regardless of their views, more experienced supervisors shared similar emphases; less experienced ones were more divergent in ways con. sistent with their theoretical dogma.