Do Art Tasks Enhance the Clinical Supervision of Counselors-in-Training?

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Date
2003-06-18
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Publisher
Virginia Tech
Abstract

Creative supervision interventions are suggested to be supportive of mental health supervisees' professional development. Yet, empirical evidence of the utility of such interventions is limited. The purpose of this study was to explore whether a creative intervention, specifically visual art, enhances clinical supervision. Enhancement was operationalized using likert scaled questions to measure: (1) participants' level of enjoyment of the art task intervention, (2) participants' perceived level of benefit derived from the art task intervention, and (3) how often participants used art tasks in counseling their own clients. Additionally, "creativity" was correlated to the dependent variables. Creativity was operationalized using the Barron-Welsh Art Scale and the Remote Associates Test.

The art task interventions were administered in the clinical supervision of master's-level counseling internship students at two Universities located in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Supervisees engaged in visual art exercises, and subsequent discussions, during the spring 2003 semester of their internship class.

Demographic information and likert-scaled responses measuring the dependent variables were reported using percentages. Dependent variables were correlated with creativity levels. Qualitative responses on the Exit Questionnaire were summarized and reported. Results suggested that participants enjoyed and benefited from supervision involving art tasks, and that a statistically significant relationship exists between creativity (as measured by the Barron-Welsh Art Scale) and enjoyment of the art tasks. While more participants overall used art in counseling their clients after participating in the study, the number of times participants used art tasks did not increase.

Description
Keywords
Supervision, Art, Creativity, Internship
Citation