Nursing has lagged behind in development, utilization, and valuing of therapy supervision. Nevertheless the mental health nursing clinical specialist is expected to be supervised and to be a supervisor of other professional staff. The integral nature of supervision in mental health nursing practice is demonstrated when one defines "therapy supervision," identifies its characteristics, and studies its clinical phases. As the role of the mental health clinical nurse specialist continues to expand, the importance of supervision in developing high level therapeutic skill has become more evident. In this paper various meanings of the concept of supervision and its similarities and differences with associated concepts, such as teaching and therapy, are explored. Essential characteristics are identified, and the application of the concept in practice and research is discussed. The inclusion of supervision training in graduate nursing curriculum, continuing education and in-service programs is advocated.
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D Rankin (1989) studied this question.