Indicators for professional growth for health care specialists: Face-to-face supervision

We explored patterns of supervisor-supervisee interactions in face-to-face supervisory conference, drawing upon theoretical constructs from Rogerian-Penman psychology. Theoretical constructs targeted in the analysis include: tallying responses according to specific subcategories i.e., seeking solutions, descriptions, identification, and resolutions. Structure and source of information include manifest/latent and power/involvement, as well as stages of professional development for the supervisee. “Before and after” supervisory conference goals are established for two students in special education. Face-to-face conversations, subsequent transcriptions, and written conversational analysis of video conferences of supervisors and supervisees are presented. The results of our study indicate hallmarks of a more sensitive analysis for the evaluation of face-to-face supervision, i.e., the source of information discussed in relation to the first supervision conference corresponded to 63% opinion. Results indicate that the practitioner progressed from the stage of “Stagnation” to that of “Confusion.” Additionally, the supervisor needed to be more “Catalytic” as evidenced by the use of 16% Resolutions and 30% Seeking Solutions. We elaborate on the analysis and the indicators for professional development that were identified. Such analysis offers a practical approach based on established theoretical frameworks in an effort to provide insights into professional growth and the supervisory relationship.