Supervision of counsellors at internship sites in Uganda

Abstract

Few research studies have been conducted on the counselling profession in Uganda. More specifically, no studies thus far have reported on how supervision of intern counsellors is carried out at internship sites in Uganda. There is thus limited research-based information on the quality of site supervision that intern counsellors in Uganda receive. Research has shown that counsellor supervision is pivotal in ensuring that interns acquire functional competencies and that they are prepared for the profession. This instrumental case study thus set out to determine how the supervision of intern counsellors was done at four purposely selected internship sites in Uganda. Building on existing supervision models, the study was guided by the contextual-functional meta-framework (CFM) for counselling supervision, which is a generic and practical supervision framework. Data were generated from the site supervisors’ and supervisees’ individual semi-structured interviews and documents used in the supervision process. The data were analysed following an inductive thematic approach. The major findings of the study indicated that lack of academic leadership from the education institutions responsible for the training of the interns in the study resulted in inadequate partnerships with the internship sites. This, in turn, resulted in some of the interns accepting placements at sites where there was insufficient infrastructure in terms of qualified supervisors, proper counselling facilities, and access to clients. Furthermore, the site supervisors did not consciously use any theories of client change and self-change during their supervision. Some of the interns were exposed to unethical practices, and their professional development suffered owing to this inadequate supervision. Similarly, the site supervisors reported that they were overburdened by having to take full responsibility for the interns’ training. This was because the university supervisors — who were tasked by their education institutions to perform clinical supervision — did not deliver on their mandate. Despite these challenges, the study findings indicated that the site supervisors endeavoured to create culturally infused and friendly relationships with their interns and supported those interns who experienced difficulty working with clients with values different from theirs. The site supervisors also inducted the interns into the various organisations, allocating tasks to them, creating learning opportunities for them, and giving them performance feedback. Against this background, it is recommended that education institutions provide academic leadership to guide the workplace learning experiences of interns. Further research is also needed to better understand the current status of workplace learning at higher education institutions in Uganda.