Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Thomas Thompson
Committee Member
Diane Bryant
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
assessment of practice, American Therapeutic Recreation Association, approval, ATRA, Board of Directors, clinical education, clinical supervision, clinical supervision competencies, clinical supervision program, clinical supervision survey, competence, competencies, competency development, computer mediated program, continuing education, continuing education plan, directors, effective supervision, entry-level professionals, expert survey, experts, formative committees, implementation, internship, internship management competence, internship students, internship supervision, literature review, management competence, outcomes, pre conference session, professional competence, program development, Recreation Association, Slippery Rock University, student outcomes, summative committees, supervision, survey instrument, survey results, technology-based program, therapeutic recreation, therapeutic recreation professionals, therapeutic recreation internship, unit of instruction, university administration
Abstract
The applied dissertation was designed to identify the competencies necessary for the effective supervision of internship students in therapeutic recreation, and to develop a continuing education plan to enhance the competence of therapeutic recreation professionals who provide internship supervision. The competencies required of internship supervision in therapeutic recreation had not been systematically identified. This problem led to the inconsistency of therapeutic recreation professionals providing supervision to students during the internship experience that resulted in poor student outcomes. This problem has a potential effect on the overall competence of entry-level therapeutic recreation professionals.
A literature review and input from both formative and summative committees were utilized to design a survey instrument to identify competencies necessary for effective clinical supervision during the therapeutic recreation internship. The instrument was piloted then distributed to a group of therapeutic recreation professionals considered to be experts in the area of clinical supervision. The data collected from the survey was analyzed and used to guide the development of a continuing education plan. A literature review specific to continuing education and additional formative and summative committees were utilized to offer direction to the plan.
The results of the survey indicated that there are many competencies important to the process of clinical supervision in therapeutic recreation. The majority of the experts surveyed in the study considered forty specific clinical supervision competencies from six different categories of clinical supervision at least moderately important.
The survey results identified the need for a continuing education program specific to clinical supervision. The plan developed consisted of three major units of instruction based on feedback from the survey. The units include instruction and activities related to the assessment of practice, the development of clinical supervision competencies, and internship management competence.
It was recommended that the clinical supervision program be implemented as an eight hour pre conference session during the annual ATRA in the fall of 2004 and eventually be developed into a computer mediated program.
The identified competencies and continuing education plan was submitted to the American Therapeutic Recreation Association Board of Directors for their review and approval. The plan was also submitted to Slippery Rock University administration for consideration of a future role in developing the technology-based version of the program.