THE HELPING RELATIONSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY SETTING - THE RELEVANCE OF ROGERIAN THEORY TO THE SUPERVISION OF PROJECT-2000 STUDENTS

A series of twenty-six interviews, fourteen with district nursing sist ers and twelve with students they supervised, was conducted in 1992 in one Project 2000 demonstration district in England. The data were col lected as part of an English National Board funded research study; dat a were reinterpreted in 1994 and formed one element in the author's Ph D thesis. Participants described the ways in which a supervisor might enable a student to learn during a community placement. One of the mos t important means by which supervisors could provide assistance was by creating an environment in which the students felt supported. Student s described how supervisors demonstrated concern, acceptance and under standing, attributes which bore striking resemblance to the qualities of congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathic understandin g identified by Carl Rogers as enabling learning. (C) 1997 Elsevier Sc ience Ltd. All rights reserved.