The Anxiety in Supervision Process among Trainee Counselors in Malaysian Public Universities: A Descriptive Study

Abstract

This study aims to identify the extent of the anxiety faced by trainee counselors in the supervision process when undergoing their internship training. In counselor education and training, the supervision process is integral so that trainee counselors are able to improve their competency through supervisor’s examination on the level of knowledge and professional skills applied in the real-life settings. Nevertheless, the literature review finds that the majority of trainee counselors will experience the feeling of anxiety when it is linked with supervision. Extremely high anxiety can disturb the attention of the trainee counselors to display the skills mastered, obstructing the development of the trainee counselors and also impede the advantage of trainee counselors learning in supervision. Thus, the aspect of anxiety on trainee counselors has to be given due attention. The study design comprises of the descriptive studies involving 204 trainee counselors at the first degree level, who are undergoing internship training and having an experience of being supervised by the counseling lecturer. All the respondents are from nine public universities all over Malaysia selected through stratified random sampling technique. The study data is gathered using the Anticipatory Supervisee Anxiety Scale (ASAS) to measure the level of anxiety of trainee counselors in the supervision. Next, the data obtained is analysed using the descriptive statistics. Based on the study outcome, several implications and suggestions are put forth at the end of the discussion.