Hostname: page-component-74656f9884-8rzl6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-06T04:08:01.254Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Providing objective feedback in supervision in motivational interviewing: results from a randomized controlled trial

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2019

Maria Beckman*
Affiliation:
Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, and Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Sweden
Lars Forsberg
Affiliation:
MIC Lab AB, Stockholm, Sweden
Helena Lindqvist
Affiliation:
Centre for Psychiatric Research, Karolinska Institutet, and Stockholm Health Care Services, Stockholm County Council, Sweden
Ata Ghaderi
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Psychology, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author. Email: maria.beckman@ki.se
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background:

The effects of the use of objective feedback in supervision on the supervisory relationship and skill acquisition is unknown.

Aims:

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of two different types of objective feedback provided during supervision in motivational interviewing (MI) on: (a) the supervisory relationship, including potential feelings of discomfort/distress, provoked by the supervision sessions, and (b) the supervisees’ skill acquisition.

Method:

Data were obtained from a MI dissemination study conducted in five county councils across five county councils across Sweden. All 98 practitioners recorded sessions with standardized clients and were randomized to either systematic feedback based on only the behavioral component of a feedback protocol, or systematic feedback based on the entire protocol.

Results:

The two different ways to provide objective feedback did not negatively affect the supervisory relationship, or provoke discomfort/distress among the supervisees, and the group that received the behavioural component of the feedback protocol performed better on only two of the seven skill measures.

Conclusions:

Objective feedback does not seem to negatively affect either the supervisor–supervisee working alliance or the supervisees’ supervision experience. The observed differences in MI skill acquisition were small, and constructive replications are needed to ascertain the mode and complexity of feedback that optimizes practitioners’ learning, while minimizing the sense of discomfort and distress.

Information

Type
Main
Copyright
© British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies 2019
Figure 0

Table 1. Recommended MITI beginning proficiency and competency thresholds

Figure 1

Table 2. Demographic characteristics of the two groups

Figure 2

Figure 1. Flow diagram. MITI BC = supervision including systematic feedback based on only the behavior counts part of the MITI; MITI GD + BC = supervision including systematic feedback based on both the five global dimensions and the behaviour counts of the MITI.

Figure 3

Table 3. Group means of the seven MITI proficiency measures, the WAI-S and the discomfort/distress question for the two groups at the two assessment points

Figure 4

Table 4. The number and percentage of the participants in the two groups reaching the MITI beginning proficiency thresholds at the two assessment points, and statistical comparisons between the groups

Supplementary material: PDF

Beckman et al. supplementary material

Beckman et al. supplementary material

Download Beckman et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 104.9 KB
Submit a response

Comments

No Comments have been published for this article.