Relationships Between Students' Self-Perceived Supervisory Needs and End of Semester Outcomes

Abstract

AbstractAccording to the 2008 Standards for Accreditation of Graduate Education Programs in Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology (American-Speech-Language-Hearing Association, 2008), pre-professional programs must demonstrate how the nature and amount of clinical supervision are adjusted to reflect the individual needs and skills of student clinicians. The purpose of this study was to analyze predictive relationships among student clinician responses to a modified version of Larson’s Supervisory Needs Rating Scale (1981) and variables including (a) current GPA, (b) whether the student was at the undergraduate or graduate level, (c) number of previous semesters of clinical practicum experience, (d) cumulative number of clinical clock hours obtained, (e) grade received for the clinical practicum experience during this study, and (f) score as calculated from the departmental clinical Knowledge and Skills Acquisition (KASA) form in an attempt to find early identification markers for student clinicians who require extra support in clinical practicum assignments. Based on student clinician responses to survey items, two factors were revealed: Supervisory Instructional Behaviors and Supervisory Communicative Behaviors. Correlations between these factors and the end of semester student variables were calculated. One significant relationship between Supervisory Instructional Behaviors and student Grade Point Average was found. Results and implications of this finding and the need for future research of effective supervisory practices are presented.