Ethical supervision in teaching, research, practice, and administration.

Abstract

Supervision is a specialized area of psychological activity that has its own foundation of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, which are enhanced by training. As our discipline develops its standards for competent practice in supervision, there is a need to develop ethical guidelines to assist both supervisors and supervisees in maintaining productive working relationships. Organized around the hierarchy of ethical principles comprising the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, the Canadian Psychological Association adopted Ethical Guidelines for Supervision in Psychology: Teaching, Research, Practice, and Administration in early 2009. In this article, each of the four ethical principles (Respect for the Dignity of Persons, Responsible Caring, Integrity in Relationships, and Responsibility to Society) is examined in the context of supervision within the areas of teaching, research, practice, and administration. The history of the guidelines, as well as some of their innovative and unique elements, is also discussed. Keywords: ethics, supervision, guidelines Resume La supervision est un domaine specialise de l'activite des psychologues qui comporte ses propres fondements du savoir, competences et attitudes, autant d'elements qui s'ameliorent par la formation. Tandis que notre discipline etablit des normes en matiere de competence en supervision, elle doit aussi definir des lignes directrices deontologiques visant a favoriser le maintien de relations de travail productives entre superviseurs et supervises. S'appuyant sur l'hierarchie des principes de deontologie enonces dans le Code canathen de deontologie professionnelle des psychologues, la Societe canathenne de psychologie a adopte, au debut de 2009, les Lignes directrices deontologiques dans la supervision en psychologie : enseignement, recherche, pratique et administration. Dans le present article, on examine chacun des quatre principes de deontologie (respect de la dignite de la personne, soins responsables, l'integrite dans les relations et responsabilite envers la societe) dans le contexte de la supervision dans les domaines de l'enseignement, de la recherche, de la pratique et de l'administration. Sont aussi presentes l'histoire des lignes directrices et certains de leurs elements novateurs et uniques. Mots-cles : deontologie, supervision, lignes directrices. In the last decade, much effort has gone into identification and elaboration of core competencies in professional psychology (e.g., Mutual Recognition Agreement, 2004). Among these core competencies, psychologists increasingly recognise supervision as a distinct competency area that requires special knowledge and skill based on professional training and experience (e.g., Falender et al., 2004; Rings, Genuchi, Hall, Angelo, & Cornish, 2009). Definitions of supervision abound in the literature, but all seem to include the following skills for supervisors: maintaining a working alliance; observing, evaluating, and gatekeeping; supporting; providing constructive feedback; facilitating self-evaluation; instructing; modelling; mentoring; and mutual problem solving. Complementary skills for supervisees include the following: understanding the tasks, purpose, roles, and boundaries of supervision; maintaining a working alliance; preparing adequately for supervision sessions; remaining open to feedback; and taking initiative in discussing innovative ideas (Canadian Psychological Association [CPA], 2009). Essential to competent supervision is the development and maintenance of ethically appropriate supervisory relationships that extend beyond the narrow discussion of specific clinical problems (Koocher, Shafranske, & Falender, 2008). However, despite a burgeoning literature in the area of supervision, specific guidance related to ethical considerations in supervision has, until very recently, been lacking. The Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists (CPA, 1986, 1991, 2000) has provided the moral and ethical foundation for the development of ethical guidelines for special topics, such as Guidelines for Non-Discriminatory Practice (CPA, 1996a), Guidelines for Psychologists Addressing Recovered Memories (CPA 1996b), and Guidelines for Ethical Psychological Practice with Women (CPA, 2007). …