How Does Clinical Supervision Work? Using a “Best Evidence Synthesis” Approach to Construct a Basic Model of Supervision

Clinical supervision is of growing importance, but poor conceptualization continues to impede research and practice. We conducted a “best evidence synthesis” (empirical review) of the literature to generate an integrative summary of the concepts and models used (implicitly or explicitly) in 24 published empirical articles. Using the qualitative data from these adequately rigorous, successful manipulations of supervision, we constructed inductively a basic model of clinical supervision. That is, we proffer an evidence-based, conceptually integrative, and suitably complex model of supervision. The model features 32 contextual variables of successful supervision (e.g., administrative support), 26 supervision interventions (i.e., corrective feedback), and 28 outcomes (i.e., how supervisees learned from supervision).