TPC-Journal-V4-Issue5

The Professional Counselor \Volume 4, Issue 5 449 Cross-tabulation tables were conducted for each of the following variables: (a) age, (b) years of experience as a school counselor, (c) number of schools for which the counselor is responsible, (d) number of students for whom the counselor is responsible, (e) other school counselors in the district and (f) other school counselors in the building. A Fisher’s Exact Test with an alpha level of .05 was used to determine whether there was a relationship between these variables and participants’ current experiences with individual and/or group clinical supervision and/or peer supervision. The results indicated that there was a relationship between receiving group supervision and the number of other school counselors in participants’ district ( p = .010), and a relationship between participants’ age and current participation in peer supervision ( p = .017). All other analyses for these variables determined no significant relationship. Future Need for Clinical Supervision Participants ranked their need for future clinical supervision based on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = not important to 6 = extremely important). When the participants’ indications of the top three options were combined, 54% ( n = 64) rated the importance of receiving clinical supervision in the future as important, very important or extremely important, leaving 46% ( n = 54) who reported it being somewhat important, minimally important or not important. When respondents were asked whom they considered the most desirable person to be their clinical supervisor, 64% ( n = 75) indicated another school counselor with specific training in supervision. Eighteen percent stated that the best supervisor would be a professor in counselor education, 6% indicated a mental health counselor, 6% specified a school psychologist, 5% indicated a psychologist, 2% identified a psychiatrist and 1% specified a social worker with a master’s degree. Cross-tabulation tables were created for each of the independent variables: (a) cultural/racial background, (b) age, (c) years of experience as a school counselor, d) licensure/certification status, e) number of schools for which the counselor is responsible, f) number of students for whom the counselor is responsible, g) other school counselors in the district and h) other school counselors in the building. A Fisher’s Exact Test with an alpha level of .05 was used to determine whether there was a relationship between these variables and participants’ perceptions of their future need for clinical supervision. The results indicated that there was a relationship between participants’ age and their perception of their need for future clinical supervision ( p = .016). All other analyses for these variables determined no significant relationship. Future Training and Education Needs When asked about the level of perceived importance of training and education regarding supervision theory and clinical supervision skills, when those were provided, participants ranked importance on a 6-point Likert scale (1 = not important to 6 = extremely important). After the participants’ indications of the top three options were combined, 67% ( n = 79) rated the importance of receiving future clinical supervision training as important, very important or extremely important, leaving 33% ( n = 39) who reported it being somewhat important, minimally important or not important. Of the 118 participants, the majority ( n = 90) had access to the state’s video conferencing system. Fifty-three of the participants stated that they had access to Skype or another real- time communication system; therefore, over half of the participants ( n = 65) stated that they did not have access. Fifty-three percent ( n = 62) of the participants rated receiving supervision training via face-to-face workshop or conference as either very important or extremely important, whereas 32% ( n = 27) rated receiving future clinical supervision training via video conferencing or teleconference as very important or extremely important. Regarding the type of supervision training they wished to receive, 81% ( n = 96) of the participants characterized training on developing specific supervision skills and techniques as important, very important