Experiences of Supervisors Distractions During Telehealth Sessions

Supervision is a compulsory activity where therapists develop through evaluation and support from a senior member of the profession. Supervision has progressed from learning through osmosis to full recognition with requirements for training; however, training focusses on in-person supervision and does not routinely consider telehealth. This qualitative research explored the experiences of 12 supervisors in three disciplines; psychology, counselling and social work using three supervision modalities; in-person, videoconference and telephonic. Three themes emerged about the use of different modes: (1) supervisors’ experience of trust in the supervision process (2) supervisors’ experience of applying adaptive actions and (3) supervisors’ experience of competence and challenges using different modes, with an interconnecting discovery that supervisors exhibit distracted behaviours when using telehealth.