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Inadequate and harmful clinical supervision, counseling self-efficacy, coping, and supervisee burnout in health service psychology graduate students

Ethridge, Emily Thornton
http://orcid.org/0009-0003-2086-5167
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1720616762859016

Abstract Details

2025, Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, Counseling Psychology.
Supervision is the cornerstone of professional development and training of psychologists (Bernard & Goodyear, 2018). However, the majority of health service psychology supervisees have experienced inadequate and harmful supervision, which have been associated with numerous negative outcomes(Ammirati & Kaslow, 2017; Ellis et al., 2014; Ellis, 2017; Gray et al., 2001; Ramos & Sanchez, 2002). The current study had four aims. The first was to provide updated incidence rates for current experiences of inadequate and harmful supervision for health service psychology graduate students using the Taxonomy of Inadequate and Harmful Clinical Supervision (Ellis et al., 2014). Second, this study investigated how these supervision experiences related to burnout at personal, work, and client levels. Additionally, this study examined whether counseling self-efficacy explained some of the relationship between inadequate and harmful supervision and burnout (Barnes, 2004; Whittaker, 2004). Finally, using two conditional mediation models, this study examined how coping efforts moderated the relationships between counseling self-efficacy and burnout and inadequate and harmful supervision and burnout. In the current sample of 186 graduate students from APA-accredited programs, 59% of students met criteria for receiving inadequate supervision and 72.7% met criteria for receiving harmful supervision in their current supervisory relationship. Participants reported high levels of personal and work-related burnout. Inadequate supervision did not significantly predict burnout at any level or counseling self-efficacy. Harmful supervision significantly predicted work-related burnout and counseling self-efficacy. There was no indirect effect of inadequate supervision on any level of burnout through counseling self-efficacy. There was a significant indirect effect of harmful supervision on client-related burnout through counseling self-efficacy. There was no indirect effect of counseling self-efficacy, inadequate supervision, or harmful supervision on any level of burnout through any of the three coping behaviors. There was no conditional mediation effect among inadequate and harmful supervision, counseling self-efficacy, coping, and burnout. Post hoc analyses revealed that Mental Disengagement and Planning moderated the relationship between counseling self-efficacy and personal burnout, Denial moderated the relationship between counseling self-efficacy and work-related burnout, and Use of Emotional Social Support moderated the relationship between inadequate supervision and personal burnout. To improve interpretability, a count of the descriptors for which each participant exceeded the cut-off score for inadequate and harmful supervision was calculated. As endorsed inadequate supervision items increased, reported personal and work-related burnout increased, and the use of Active Coping, Planning, and Behavioral Disengagement increased. As endorsed harmful supervision items increased, reported personal and work-related burnout increased, use of Focus On and Venting of Emotions, Denial, Behavioral Disengagement, and Substance Use increased, and counseling self-efficacy related to micro-skills decreased. Implications regarding current supervision standards, burnout prevention and mitigation, and the role of supervision in developing supervisee counseling self-efficacy and wellness are discussed.
Ingrid Weigold (Advisor)
Margo Gregor (Committee Member)
Charles Waehler (Committee Member)
John Queener (Committee Member)
Heather Katafiasz (Committee Member)
227 p.
Counseling Psychology; Psychology
supervision; health service psychology; burnout; coping; counseling self-efficacy; graduate student; harmful supervision; inadequate supervision

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Ethridge, E. T. (2025). Inadequate and harmful clinical supervision, counseling self-efficacy, coping, and supervisee burnout in health service psychology graduate students [Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1720616762859016

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Ethridge, Emily. Inadequate and harmful clinical supervision, counseling self-efficacy, coping, and supervisee burnout in health service psychology graduate students. 2025. University of Akron, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1720616762859016.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Ethridge, Emily. "Inadequate and harmful clinical supervision, counseling self-efficacy, coping, and supervisee burnout in health service psychology graduate students." Doctoral dissertation, University of Akron, 2025. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=akron1720616762859016

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

akron1720616762859016
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