Family therapy trainees' evaluations of their best and worst supervision experiences

Supervisees in Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education-(COAMFTE) accredited and candidacy training programs were asked t o describe their best and worst supervision experiences in terms of the con text of training and supervision, the perceived personal attributes of the supervisor and specific behaviors perceived to be enacted by the supervisor during supervision. Contextual factors such as supervision modality, frequ ency and duration of supervisory contacts, and sources of supervisory, data appeared to distinguish between supervisees' perceptions of their best and worst experiences. These experiences were further distinguished by the sup ervisees' perceptions regarding the supervisor's level of interpersonal att ractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise. Key behaviors perceived to be enacted by supervisors during best and worst experiences clustered into sev eral dimensions that included creating an open supervisory environment, com munication and encouragement, attending to personal growth, and providing c onceptual and technical guidance and direction.