Trainee Psychiatrists’ views about their Supervisors and Supervision

Abstract

Objective: Supervision is fundamental to the trainee experience in psychiatry, but few researchers have considered this in a systematic way. In this paper, we explore trainees’ perceptions of the supervisor–trainee relationship and the supervision process. This is the first of two papers, with the second focussing on supervisors’ perceptions of supervision and trainees. Method: Fifteen trainees were interviewed and the resultant data subjected to qualitative analysis. Results: Trainees described the characteristics of a ‘good’ supervisor, as well as what they considered to be evident in a ‘poor’ supervisor. Conclusions: The results of this study would be useful in designing training programs for both experienced and novice supervisors. Future research is needed to evaluate the efficacy of such training programs, as currently very little investigation into postgraduate clinical supervision has been undertaken.