In Search of the Common Elements of Clinical Supervision: A Systematic Review

The importance of clinical supervision for supporting effective implementation of evidence-based treatments (EBTs) is widely accepted; however, very little is known about which supervision practice elements contribute to implementation effectiveness. This systematic review aimed to generate a taxonomy of empirically-supported supervision practice elements that have been used in treatment trials and shown to independently predict improved EBT implementation. Supervision practice elements were identified using a two-phase, empirically-validated distillation process. In Phase I, a systematic review identified supervision protocols that had evidence of effectiveness based on (a) inclusion in one or more EBT trials, and (b) independent association with improved EBT implementation in one or more secondary studies. In Phase II, a hybrid deductive-inductive coding process was applied to the supervision protocols to characterize the nature and frequency of supervision practice elements across EBTs. Twenty-one of the 876 identified articles assessed the associations of supervision protocols with implementation or clinical outcomes, representing 13 separate studies. Coding and distillation of the supervision protocols resulted in a taxonomy of 21 supervision practice elements. The most frequently used elements were: reviewing supervisees’ practice (92%; n = 12), clinical suggestions (85%; n = 11), behavioral rehearsal (77%; n = 10), elicitation (77%; n = 10), and fidelity assessment (77%; n = 10). This review identified supervision practice elements that could be targets for future research testing which elements are necessary and sufficient to support effective EBT implementation. Discrepancies between supervision practice elements observed in trials as compared to routine practice highlights the importance of research addressing supervision-focused implementation strategies.