Preferences for and Acceptability of Telesupervision Among Health Service Psychology Trainees

Telesupervision is an increasingly common practice in health service psychology training, particularly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, little is known about important considerations that may inform the longterm adoption of telesupervision, including its acceptability among trainees, the impact of technology-mediated supervision on critical variables such as the supervisory working alliance, and whether established supervisory best practices can be effectively employed in a telehealth format. The present study provides qualitative and quantitative data on trainee perceptions of telesupervision among a sample of 144 health service psychology students engaged in either telesupervision or hybrid supervision combining telesupervision with in-person meetings within university training clinics in the United States. Trainees completed questionnaires rating supervisory working alliance, metacommunication, quality of supervision, the identified supervisor’s use of best practices, and perceptions of COVID-19 danger as well as provided qualitative responses to three open-ended questions exploring expectations around telesupervision as well as perceived advantages and disadvantages. Findings suggest that trainees find telesupervision to be highly acceptable, with over 90% of participants reporting that it met or exceeded their expectations. Ratings of critical variables such as supervisory working alliance, metacommunication, and engagement in best practices generally did not differ between the hybrid and telesupervision groups, nor were these results affected by supervision format (i.e., individual vs. group) or trainee developmental level. Unique benefits and limitations of telesupervision were highlighted. Overall, results suggest that telesupervision is a highly acceptable and beneficial tool in health service psychology training. Considerations for the ongoing use of telesupervision are discussed.