Clinical supervision of psychologists in primary care: a scoping review protocol

Abstract Introduction The prevalence of long-term conditions (LTCs) and mental health disorders in England is increasing, placing significant strain on primary care services. General practitioners (GPs) face escalating workloads and often lack specialist training in behaviour change interventions, despite evidence of their effectiveness. The integration of practitioner psychologists into primary care services has been recommended as way to address these challenges, however, this recommendation has yet to be implemented across the UK. Clinical supervision is central to safe and effective psychological practice, however, existing UK supervision guidelines do not specifically address supervision within primary care contexts. Currently, there has been no review on the topic of clinical supervision of psychological professionals within UK primary care settings. Objective This scoping review aims to map the extent, range and nature of literature on clinical supervision of psychology professionals integrated within primary care, identify gaps and inform future guidelines. Methods and analysis The review will follow Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and Joanna Briggs Institute recommendations. English-language sources published from 1998 onwards will be searched across multiple databases (e.g., CINAHL, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Web of Science) and grey literature. Screening and data extraction will be conducted independently by two reviewers using Covidence, with results synthesised narratively. Reporting will adhere to the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Ethics and dissemination Ethics approval is not required for this scoping review. Dissemination of the findings will include a peer-reviewed publication and presentation at conference events. Key words Clinical supervision, integration, primary care, psychology professionals