The Juggling Act of Supervision in Community Mental Health: Implications for Supporting Evidence-Based Treatment

Adm Policy Ment Health. 2017 Nov;44(6):838-852. doi: 10.1007/s10488-017-0796-z.

Abstract

Supervisors are an underutilized resource for supporting evidence-based treatments (EBTs) in community mental health. Little is known about how EBT-trained supervisors use supervision time. Primary aims were to describe supervision (e.g., modality, frequency), examine functions of individual supervision, and examine factors associated with time allocation to supervision functions. Results from 56 supervisors and 207 clinicians from 25 organizations indicate high prevalence of individual supervision, often alongside group and informal supervision. Individual supervision serves a wide range of functions, with substantial variation at the supervisor-level. Implementation climate was the strongest predictor of time allocation to clinical and EBT-relevant functions.

Keywords: Community mental health; Evidence-based treatment supervision; Implementation climate.

MeSH terms

  • Administrative Personnel / psychology*
  • Adult
  • Attitude of Health Personnel
  • Community Mental Health Services / organization & administration*
  • Diffusion of Innovation*
  • Evidence-Based Practice / organization & administration*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Leadership
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Socioeconomic Factors