Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
Implementation of Supervision
Within the Psychosocial Interventions (PSI) programme students
were brought together in small groups of up to five, usually in a
practice area, to reflect on the homework given to them at the
previous day of teaching. Group supervision was chosen as it
facilitates a sense of belonging with all members working together
and learning from each other’s experiences while developing from a
similar level of knowledge. (van Ooijen 2003) The homework was
focused on carrying out an exercise within the work area, relevant
to PSI practice, and derived from that learned in the classroom.
Time was allocated for each student to discuss their experience and
reflect on its meaning to their practice. This allowed the student to
transfer material learned in class into practice thus bridging the
theory-practice gap (Bradshaw, 2002). Within this there was a
gradual move from highly structured educational supervision to
clinical supervision where the students had a more active role in the
setting of agendas although this was guided by the requirements to
meet the outcomes of the programme.
Feedback on Supervision
Feedback on the use of the acquired skills was obtained from the
supervisor’s reports which are a requirement of the programme.
Student responses to supervision was elicited by observation of
educational supervision sessions and from interviews carried out at
the end of the programme and six months after completion.
Initially the students appeared threatened by the process of
supervision using a variety of excuses to avoid having to
participate, including not having the time and being unable to get
away from clinical areas. These are identified by Bond and Holland
(1998) as being classic responses of nurses to supervision. Status
within the groups also became an issue, particularly in the group
which mixed pre-registration students with trained staff. The
trained staff adopting a variety of behaviours designed to protect
their own status.
As the sessions progressed the groups developed an ethos of
sharing experiences and ideas and expressed the view that they
were in fact learning together and from each other. The students
generally agreed that by being closely linked to the previous theory
session the supervision aided in bridging the theory/practice gap by
encouraging the use of the skills in practice. Having identified,
during this process, deficits in previous practice they also found the
supportive nature of the supervision group valuable in helping
change the way they practiced, often in environments where
colleague support was not forthcoming.
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