Clinical supervisors’ ethical and professional identity behaviors with postgraduate supervisees seeking independent licensure

In addition to state laws, the counseling profession’s code of ethics and training standards stipulate that counselors clearly uphold ethical standards and identify with a distinct professional counselor identity. We investigated 411 postgraduate counseling supervisees’ experiences with ethical and professional identity development during supervision in the US The results of the survey indicated that supervisors do not directly and consistently pass a professional counselor identity to the supervisee. However, supervision encompassed ethical considerations. Study results are not a reflection of nor the sole responsibility of supervisors. The counseling profession must also assume responsibility for these outcomes and better support counseling supervisors in passing a counselor professional identity from the supervisor to the supervisee. Additional research could determine how to support supervisors in passing a counselor professional identity to the supervisee during supervision.

Related papers:

title: Applying Self-Efficacy Theory to Counselor Training and Supervision: A Comparison of Two Approaches
abstract: Counseling self-efficacy, an individual's perception of his or her competence to conduct counseling, is an important component of understanding how counselor trainees subjectively construct their counseling and training experiences and subsequently develop into competent counseling professionals. The author describes 2 approaches to using self-efficacy theory to develop and implement counselor training and supervision interventions: the self-efficacy enhancement approach and the self-efficacy in context approach. Suggestions for tailoring counseling self-efficacy assessment to the accompanying approach are included.

title: Development of a professional school counselor identity: A grounded theory.
abstract: Professional identity formation and development have been studied in numerous professions including teaching (Kuzmic,1994), psychoanalysis (Rosenbloom, 1992), and psychology (Watts, 1987). What appears to be salient across these studies is a process of continual interplay between structural and attitudinal changes that result in a self-conceptualization as a type of professional. This self-conceptualization, which has been termed one's professional identity, serves as a frame of reference from which one carries out a professional role, makes significant professional decisions, and develops as a professional. The literature on professional counselor development has identified similar processes involved in identity formation and development of counselors (Bruss & Kopala, 1993; Hogan, 1964; Loganbill, Hardy, & Delworth,1982; Reising & Daniels,1983; Skovholt & Ronnestad, 1992). The focus of previous research has been on counselors-in-training, with little attention paid to identity development during the working years beyond graduate school. Further, whether counselor identity development is identical for professionals in the various specialities of counseling such as school counseling has not been determined. The counseling literature is saturated with studies and articles that examine the role and functions of school counselors (e.g., Carroll, 1993; Helms & Ibrahim, 1983, 1985; Shertzer & Stone,1963; Stanciak, 1995; Wrenn,1957). In spite of the best efforts of professional associations, accrediting bodies, and training programs to define the profession of school counseling, studies cited in the literature indicate that the actual functions of counselors in the schools do not always reflect what have been identified as the best practices in school counseling (Hutchinson, Barrick, & Groves,1986; Partin, 1993; Peer, 1985; Tennyson, Miller, Skovholt, & Williams, 1989). A major theme that is repeated throughout the literature related to the professionalization of school counseling relates to this dissonance or conflict between school counselor preparation and the realities of the work environment. How decisions are made in this context reflects one's self-conceptualization as a professional-one's professional identity. The development of a professional school counselor identity thus serves as a frame of reference for carrying out work roles, making significant decisions, and developing as a professional. Unfortunately, there is a lack of available information on how this professional identity develops. By understanding the meaning-making framework in professional identity development, school counselors may be in a better position to determine their roles and functions for serving students and the school community. Further, counselor educators will be better able to provide training to students aspiring to become professional school counselors. Because professional identity development is a process rather than an outcome-which begins in training and continues throughout one's career-it is best studied with emerging research paradigms (e.g., qualitative methods). One such research paradigm is grounded theory (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1990). A grounded theory orientation allows theoretical categories to emerge from the data that explain how individuals continually process and respond to a problem. Data are gathered primarily through interviews and are analyzed inductively. The resulting theory is thus grounded in real-world patterns. A judgment can then be made about the adequacy of the research and the credibility of the newly developed theory. A qualitative study was undertaken to propose a grounded theory that will contribute to an understanding of school counselors' professional identity development. Based on a review of the literature, the salient theme related to the professionalization of school counseling seemed to be one of conflict or, more specifically, conflict decisions. …

title: A Discriminant Analysis of Gender and Counselor Professional Identity Development
abstract: Professional identity development is a process by which an individual reaches an understanding of her or his profession in conjunction with her or his own self-concept, enabling the articulation of occupational role, philosophy, and professional approach to people within and outside of the individual's chosen field (Brott & Myers, 1999; Smith & Robinson, 1995). One's professional identity includes the values and beliefs ascribed to by a profession as a whole as well as the way in which one chooses to engage in a chosen occupation (Remley & Herlihy, 2007). By strengthening the competency of practitioners through a focus on professional identity development, it is hoped that the counseling profession will be bolstered as practitioners and counselor educators reach a cohesive collective identity (Gale & Austin, 2003). Collective identity refers to having shared goals, resources, and aspirations for a profession (Daniels, 2002). To build a relationship with one's field of work, an individual must establish a clear foundation and construct a professional philosophy that clarifies and distinguishes the profession from other similar vocations. In this study, we contend that the philosophical beliefs and values ascribed to by individual professional counselors as part of their professional identity may be influenced by factors that may include societally defined gender role expectations, personal values, and engagement in professional activities. To determine how gender group membership (as culturally imposed according to overt biological sex characteristics) affects professional identity development and engagement behaviors, we evaluated differences between self-identified male and female participants regarding measured aspects of professional identity. Knowing if cultural gender role expectations influence identity development could be important for assisting practitioners, new professionals, and counselors-in-training as they become increasingly invested in the counseling field in a self-authorized way (Belenky, 1997). Having a personally congruent way of being as a professional is important in building competence, allowing for individuals to confidently contribute to the field and their communities (Ronnestad & Skovholt, 2008; Watts, 2004).  Gender Norms and Identity Development In an analysis of professional identity development, research has indicated that the construct of professional identity, which typically develops in association with a particular field of work, may contribute to gender inequity (Rubineau, 2008). This inequity can manifest in terms of general gender representation in the profession or engagement in professional activities, or it may influence representation in administrative and other leadership positions. This pervasive influence may also be evident with regard to those individuals chosen for promotion within professional businesses or hired for certain instructional positions within educational settings. Professions such as those included in the medical field (e.g., medical doctors, physician assistants) may appear to have gender equality when one looks at student admissions, graduation rates, and grades; however, when one considers the specialist areas, an obvious gender gap exists because of the requirements for success (e.g., time requirements) within those domains of expertise. These externally defined requirements have been found to relate directly to how the profession is defined in terms of performance expectations (Boulis & Jacobs, 2003). Time requirements have been found to play a particularly important role for professional women as life obligations and personal and professional roles correspond to their ability to balance personal and professional responsibilities, leading to role conflict (Hill, Leinbaugh, Bradley, & Hazier, 2005; Mason & Ekman, 2007; Medina, 2008; Simon, 1995).  Role Conflict and Professional Engagement Mason and Ekman (2007) noted, in a content analysis of educational outcomes and employment data, that although women are becoming more engaged in higher education and are involved in following career aspirations, they are not achieving higher management or upper tier status in organizational and educational institutions. …

title: Counselor Professional Identity: Findings and Implications for Counseling and Interprofessional Collaboration
abstract: The counseling profession has long struggled to establish a cohesive professional identity for counselors (e.g., Calley & Hawley, 2008; Gale & Austin, 2003; Hanna & Bemak, 1997; Myers, Sweeney, & White, 2002; Swickert, 1997). Despite attempts to define the profession, researchers have not examined the professional identity of practicing counselors, nor have they investigated differences in terms of counselor training, credentialing, and specialization, differences that could present real challenges to establishing one cohesive professional identity for counselors (Cashwell, Kleist, & Scofield, 2009; Gale & Austin, 2003). These challenges seem to be amplified by difficulties clearly distinguishing the tasks associated with specific counseling specializations from the profession of counseling (Cashwell et al., 2009; Hanna & Bemak, 1997). As a result, a shared identity for the counseling profession remains elusive, making it difficult for many counselors to articulate a clear professional identity and describe overlapping and distinct characteristics among counseling and related helping professions (Calley & Hawley, 2008; Cashwell et al., 2009; Gale & Austin, 2003). Although the counseling profession struggles to clearly articulate a unified professional identity, interprofessional collaboration with related helping professions is increasingly supported as a best practice strategy for addressing some of the nation's most critical social problems, such as education, mental health, and health care (Keyton & Stallworth, 2002). The combined knowledge and skills of collaborators from multiple professions supports the generation of creative approaches for addressing these problems; however, an inability to articulate distinct professional identities among collaborators often results in (a) confusion about roles and responsibilities, (b) conflicts related to power and status, and (c) the proliferation of professional stereotypes that jeopardizes the effectiveness of interprofessional collaboration (King & Ross, 2003; Waxman, Weist, & Benson, 1999). This may result in unique struggles for counselors engaged in interprofessional collaboration at an operational level, especially because counseling is the youngest of the helping professions (i.e., psychology, social work). Because counseling is the newest profession, the professional identity of counselors may be especially unclear, and, as a result, the roles and responsibilities of counselors may not be optimized within interprofessional collaboration. The purpose of this study was to explore the professional identity of practicing counselors and to identify implications for interprofessional collaboration.  Counselor Professional Identity Specific attempts to establish a unified identity for the counseling profession are well documented in the literature (e.g., Hanna & Bemak, 1997; McAuliffe & Eriksen, 1999). Such efforts have primarily focused on identifying a philosophical orientation unique to counseling. More specifically, scholars have argued that counseling can be distinguished from related helping professions because of its developmental, prevention, and wellness orientation toward helping (Flaherty et al., 1998; McAuliffe & Eriksen, 1999). McAuliffe and Eriksen (1999) suggested that this may be a challenging identity for counselors to embrace, however, because few practical methods for implementing this orientation into counseling practice have been developed. Additionally, the focus on pathology within the dominant culture prioritizes intervention over prevention (McAuliffe & Eriksen, 1999). In a review of interviews with senior contributors published in the Journal of Counseling & Development, tension between a desire for the profession to continue to align with the philosophical orientation of human development, prevention, and wellness versus practice realities that indicate a need to increase knowledge of the medical model and a focus on pathology was clear (Gale & Austin, 2003). …

title: Professionalism's Challenges to Professional Counselors' Collective Identity
abstract: The authors discuss how attaining various standards of professionalism has inadvertently resulted in challenges to professional counselors' collective identity. The authors reviewed interviews with senior contributors to the profession published in the Journal of Counseling & Development, identifying themes in their comments to suggest potential solutions to helping professional counselors find unity in diversity.

title: Advocacy for Counseling and Counselors: A Professional Imperative
abstract: Although advocacy both for clients and for the profession is essential for the future of counseling and counselors, advocacy for the profession has received little systematic attention. A national plan for advocacy is needed, the effectiveness of which depends on achieving consensus concerning professional identity, promoting a positive public image, establishing effective intraprofessional and interprofessional collaboration, and obtaining the participation of each counselor in advocacy activities. Specific professional advocacy skills and techniques are described.

title: Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Counseling
abstract: Professional Practice in a Multicultural Society SECTION II: ISSUES 4. Client Rights and Counselor Responsibilities 5. Confidentiality and Privileged Communication 6. Records and Subpoenas, and Technology 7. Competence and Malpractice 8. Boundary Issues 9. Counseling Children and Vulnerable Adults 10. Counseling Families and Groups 11.  Testing, and Diagnosis 12. Professional Relationships, Private Practice, and Healthcare Plans 13. Issues in Counselor Education 14. Supervision and Consultation 15. Research and Publications 16. Resolving Legal and Ethical Issues

title: Interprofessional collaboration: implications for Combined-Integrated doctoral training in professional psychology.
abstract: Interprofessional collaboration (IPC) is becoming "best practice" in the field of professional psychology and other health care professions. It was named as a core competency at Competencies 2002 and the Consensus Conference and has been endorsed by the American Psychological Association on several occasions. The authors provide a definition of IPC, present conceptual, scholarly, and pragmatic support for IPC, and offer guidance on how Combined-Integrated (C-I) doctoral programs in professional psychology can include IPC to ensure students are well equipped to respond to a client's complex needs. Furthermore, although C-I programs might be particularly well prepared to incorporate IPC into their training, it is argued that programs in the single practice areas of clinical, counseling, and school psychology also may benefit from the inclusion of IPC.

title: Psychology and the church: An exemplar of psychologist–clergy collaboration.
abstract: Despile the increasing attention being given to clergy-psychologist collaboration, many psychologists may wonder what clergy-psychologist collaboration looks like in actual practice. The authors describe an example of clergy-psychologist collaboration involving a careful needs-assessment phase followed by the development of a wide spectrum of preventive, consultative, and direct services. Current challenges include funding, establishment of trust, and the integration of psychology and spirituality. Implications for professional psychologists are discussed.

title: An Integrative Psychological Developmental Model of Supervision for Professional School Counselors-in-Training
abstract: Professional school counselors (PSCs) at higher levels of psychological development negotiate complex situations and perform counselor-related tasks with empathy, flexibility, tolerance for ambiguity, boundary setting, personal and interpersonal awareness, and self-care more effectively than do individuals at lower levels of development. This article introduces an integrative clinical supervision model designed to promote the psychological growth (ego maturity) of PSCs-in-training; presents practical components of the model; and discusses implications for PSC educators, supervisors, and researchers.

title: A Study of Clinical Supervision Techniques and Training in Substance Abuse Treatment.
abstract: Data from 57 clinical supervisors in licensed substance abuse treatment programs indicate that 28% had completed formal graduate course work in clinical supervision and 33% were professionally licensed or certified. Findings raise concerns about the scope and quality of clinical supervision available to substance abuse counselors.

title: Multicultural Group Supervision: A Comparison of In-Person versus Web-Based Formats
abstract: Despite the need for adequate supervision for school counselor trainees, there are limited supervision opportunities for school counselor trainees (Roberts & Borders, 1994). Group supervision is an effective means of providing clinical supervision to several school counselor trainees concurrently (Borders, 1991; Van Horn & Myrick, 2001). Although utilization of a peer supervision group has been shown to be helpful to both school counselor trainees and professionals (e.g., Agnew, Vaught, Getz, & Fortune, 2000; Kern, 1996), a paucity of empirical studies has documented this efficacy (Starling & Baker, 2000). For school counselor trainees, peer supervision groups that address multicultural issues may complement the contemporary focus on multicultural issues in many school counselor programs (Constantine, 2001; Hobson & Kanitz, 1996). Attention to multicultural issues in school counselor education programs has been necessitated by the growing diversity of school systems in large urban cities across the United States (Constantine et al., 2001). Over the past few decades, multicultural counseling competence has represented an important goal for many school counselor education programs in order to prepare their trainees to work effectively with diverse cultural populations (Holcomb-McCoy, 2001). Multicultural counseling competence refers to counselors' attitudes/ beliefs, knowledge, and skills in working with individuals from various cultural groups (Sue, Arredondo, & McDavis, 1992). Although previous research has found that school counselors and school counselor trainees with higher levels of formal multicultural counseling education (e.g., coursework and workshops) reported greater amounts of self-perceived multicultural counseling competence (Constantine, 2001), little research has examined the role of multicultural supervision in increasing school counselor trainees' self-reported multicultural counseling competence. There is also an absence of research that has explored the impact of receiving multicultural counseling supervision on aspects of school counselor trainees' demonstrated multicultural counseling competence. One aspect of demonstrated multicultural counseling competence is the ability to identify and integrate cultural factors into conceptualizations of the etiology and treatment of clients' presenting concerns (i.e., multicultural case conceptualization ability). Conceptualizing clients from a multicultural perspective indicates that school counselor trainees are aware of and can integrate information about various cultural factors into clients' presenting issues and, subsequently, identify an appropriate treatment plan for working with clients based on this information (Constantine & Ladany, 2000). Multicultural case conceptualization ability is comprised of two distinct, but interrelated, dimensions. The first factor or conceptualization is based on school counselor trainees' recognition of factors that may be contributing to the etiology of students' problems. The second conceptualization is based on their thoughts about what might be an effective treatment focus or plan for addressing students' difficulties. These conceptualizations may become increasingly complex as school counselor trainees make associations between and among hypothesized etiologies of presenting concerns and, accordingly, integrate these data into treatment plans (Constantine & Gushue, in press). School counselor trainees' ability to perceive and conceptualize cultural information in a complex and sophisticated manner would have important implications for their ability to work effectively with culturally diverse students. Hence, receiving multicultural supervision presumably would affect these trainees' multicultural case conceptualization ability. Although the advantages of receiving individual multicultural supervision have been extensively documented (e.g., Constantine, 1997; Duan & Roehlke, 2001), there also may be several advantages to using peer group supervision formats to address multicultural issues with school counselor trainees. …

title: A Working System of School Counselor Supervision.
abstract: School counselors acknowledge the need for supervision but rarely receive it. This article describes the Counselor performance improvement system in one school district. Supervision is embedded in a process that assesses counselors' levels of professionalism on a matrix of competence and commitment. Administrative and clinical supervisors determine which of four quadrants from the matrix best describes an individual counselor's current performance, and they tailor their responses accordingly. Examples of counselors in each of the categories are provided.

title: Apples and Oranges Make a Nice Start for a Fruit Salad: A Response to Culbreth and Borders (1999)
abstract: The American Counseling Association (ACA) has been challenged to address the issue of specialties in counseling. Rather than relating them to specific attributes of a client population or to a specific work setting, ACA has chosen to relate specialties to programs accredited through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) or professional certifications offered through the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) (Myers, 1995). Such a weak definition of "specialty" fails to identify unique client characteristics or special counseling techniques that are different from those of the general counseling population or routine counseling practices. Culbreth and Borders (1999) described substance abuse treatment as a unique specialty within the counseling profession and identified the struggle for recognition between recovering and nonrecovering practitioners as a critical element that contributes to the "uniqueness" of this treatment field. These authors clearly described the diversity that exists in the credentials acceptable to the public as appropriate for the addictions counselor. The authors imply that the addictions field is changing, in part, because of the introduction of a more highly educated and skilled counselor pool interested in working in the addictions treatment field. This change in the counselor pool provides the groundwork for a discussion on the importance of considering recovery status as a critical element in the supervisory relationship. This article is centered around three critical issues identified in the Culbreth and Borders article. First, this article addresses the issue of "counselor effectiveness" as it relates to a comparison of services provided by professional counselors and those provided by paraprofessionals. Second, this article discusses the issue of counselor and supervisor preparation standards that currently exist in the addictions treatment field and compares these with professional criteria cited in the literature. Third, the article questions the use of satisfaction surveys for the collection of data relative to supervision effectiveness in the addictions field. COUNSELOR EFFECTIVENESS Culbreth and Borders suggested that there is empirical evidence indicating that recovering counselors, those generally described as having no formal academic training in counseling, are as effective as nonrecovering counselors, those generally described as having completed formal academic training in counseling. The authors cite several articles (see Culbreth & Borders, 1999) to support the existence of this empirical evidence; however, a review of these citations finds that the articles did not specifically address counselor effectiveness if counselor effectiveness was to be measured in terms of client behavior change. Aiken and LoSciuto (1985) studied how well counselors knew their clients and explored client perceptions of the counselor's knowledge of the client's drug use. Lawson (1982) studied the quality of the therapeutic relationship between 28 counselors and 28 clients. LoSciuto, Aiken, Ausetts, and Brown (1984) studied views and attitudes of professional and paraprofessional counselors with respect to drug use and drug treatment, expectations for their clients, and client attitudes toward these counselors. This study also explored the knowledge level of counselors as perceived by their clients. These particular citations did not provide any empirical evidence regarding counseling effectiveness. Clients who received services from recovering and nonrecovering counselors were not included in any longitudinal study to determine if characteristics such as counselor knowledge of a client's problem or the quality of the client-counselor relationship influenced client behavior after treatment was terminated. A review of the literature on outcomes relative to addictions treatment funds very few references to longitudinal outcomes studies using substance abuse clients. …

title: Selection and use of content experts for instrument development.
abstract: Content experts frequently are used in the judgment-quantification stage of content validation of instruments. However, errors in instrumentation may arise when important steps in selecting and using these experts are not carefully planned. The systematic process of choosing, orienting, and using content experts in the judgment-qualification stage of instrument development is addressed, with particular attention to the often neglected, important step of familiarizing these experts with the conceptual underpinnings and measurement model of the instrument. An example using experts to validate content for a measure of caregiver burden is used to illustrate this stage of instrument review.

title: How to factor-analyze your data right: do’s, don’ts, and how-to’s.
abstract: The current article provides a guideline for conducting factor analysis, a technique used to estimate the population-level factor structure underlying the given sample data. First, the distinction between exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (EFA and CFA) is briefly discussed; along with this discussion, the notion of principal component analysis and why it does not provide a valid substitute of factor analysis is noted. Second, a step-by-step walk-through of conducting factor analysis is illustrated; through these walk-through instructions, various decisions that need to be made in factor analysis are discussed and recommendations provided. Specifically, suggestions for how to carry out preliminary procedures, EFA, and CFA are provided with SPSS and LISREL syntax examples. Finally, some critical issues concerning the appropriate (and not-so-appropriate) use of factor analysis are discussed along with the discussion of recommended practices.

title: Research Design in Counseling
abstract: Part I: PHILOSOPHICAL, ETHICAL, TRAINING, AND PROFESSIONAL ISSUES. 1. Science and Counseling. 2.  ESTABLISHING THE FOUNDATION FOR A STUDY. 5. Identifying and Operationalizing Research Topics. 6. Choosing Research Designs. 7. Validity Issues in Research Design. 8.  Quasi-Experimental and Time Series Designs. 13. Quantitative Descriptive Designs. 14. Analogue Research. 15. Single-Subject Designs. 16. Qualitative Designs. 17. Mixed Methods. Part IV: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES. 18. Designing and Evaluating the Independent Variable. 19. Designing or Choosing/Selecting the Dependent Variable. 20. Outcome Research: Strategies and Methodological Issues. 21. Design Issues Related to Counseling Process Research. 22.  23. Investigator, Experimenter, and Participant Bias.  Ethical Standards of the American Counseling Association.  Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.

title: Evaluating Independently Licensed Counselors' Articulation of Professional Identity Using Structural Coding.
abstract: Inconsistent counselor professional identity contributes to issues with licensure portability, parity in hiring practices, marketplace recognition in U.S. society and third-party payments for independently licensed counselors. Counselors could benefit from enhancing the counseling profession’s identity as well as individual professional identities within the counseling profession. A random sample of 472 independently licensed counselors self-rated and then documented their individual professional identity via their occupational role discussions with others. Results demonstrate that independently licensed counselors rarely accurately self-evaluate their occupational role communications. Further, counselors rarely establish the counseling profession’s identity when discussing their occupational role. Participants’ responses guided the creation of a model that can guide counselors in evaluating and improving the communication of their professional identity to clients, other professionals and the general public.