Counseling self-efficacy, supervisory working alliance, and social influence in supervision

Counseling self-efficacy of supervisees is a significant outcome variable of counselor training. The Social Cognitive Model of Counselor Training (SCMCT; Larson, 1998a) provided a framework from which to examine the relationships of supervisory social influence in supervision, supervisory working alliance, and counseling self-efficacy. Supervisees' perceptions of their efficacy in counseling were assessed through the Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE; Larson, et al., 1992). The sum of the “client focus” and “rapport” subscales on the Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory - Trainee Version (SWAI-T; Efstation, Patton, & Kardash, 1990) represented a measure of the supervisory working alliance. Social influence of supervisors was operationalized by the composite score on three factors (“expertness,” “attractiveness,” and “trustworthiness”) on the Supervisor Rating Form (the modified Counselor Rating Form - Short; Corrigan & Schmidt, 1983).; Participants were 78 trainees of various experience levels at several counselor programs. Hierarchical regression analysis was used to test the following three hypotheses: (1) A strong working alliance would predict counseling self-efficacy of supervisees. (2) Perceptions of supervisors as high in social influence would contribute significantly to the criterion variable, counselor self-efficacy. (3) High social influence and a strong supervisory relationship, while controlling for experience level, would significantly predict a portion of the variance in counseling self-efficacy. The hypotheses were supported. Supervisory working alliance, experience level, and social influence contributed respectively, 22%, 13%, and 6% of the variance in counseling self-efficacy. In addition to its unique contribution, social influence enhanced the relationship between counseling self-efficacy and the supervisory working alliance by acting as a suppressor variable.; Exploratory analyses revealed that supervisees who perceived their supervisors to be high in social influence were more satisfied with supervision. A strong supervisory working alliance also correlated positively with satisfaction with supervision among trainees. Satisfaction with supervision, however, was not correlated with counseling self-efficacy.