for Music Therapy Supervision

A Study on the Realities Faced by Supervisees and on Their Educational Needs for Music Therapy Supervision Supervision is defined as the continual training program that is assisted by a supervisor in order for those who are interested in becoming professional therapists or those who are already professional therapists to acquire the necessary skill-sets. Thus, supervision is essential for training therapists (Borders & Cashwell, 1995) by helping solve problems they face during their practice in the process of acquiring diverse skills and of understanding issues that their clients face. Supervision is also very important in the sense that its effect is transferred over to the clients (Loganbill, Hardy & Delworth, 1982; Stadler, Willing, Eberhage & Warrd, 1988). Supervision enables novice therapists who get supervised to grow, while it determines the quality of treatment sessions so that clients will not be affected adversely during this learning process. Due to the increased awareness of supervision in the clinical study context, interest in supervision increased both in Korea in the fields of consultations and psychological treatments. In particular, since supervision too is a form of education, its impact is considered an important scholastic issue. There is a discourse that even one approach needs to factor in the level of supervisees in order to teach them effectively. This is an assumption that the clinical specialists grow into professionals with specialized knowledge, with human mindset as they gain experience and training. That is, supervision becomes increasingly effective when it offers training program that suits supervisees level. This perspective was mainly studied under the name of supervision development theory. Development theory focuses on the development stage (Hogan, 1964: Littrell, Lee- Borden & Lorenz, 1979: Stoltenberg, 1981) that is manifested according to the process with which therapists who are still novices improve their treatment ability. In other words, this is a common phenomenon that appears in case of supervision, and this is the theory that addresses 1

the education method that entails handling characteristics for each state and the training methods that need to be addressed in each of the stages. By understanding the characteristics of the development stages that are mentioned in the supervision development theory, a supervisor gains help on which contents he or she needs to focus on while training supervisees and on how to carry out supervision effectively. In the music therapy development model, a supervisee is considered as someone who undergoes growth process in diverse stages and levels. Stephens (1987) said that supervisors need to be aware of the fact that the role of supervisor will change as supervisee s demand, preference, and qualities. Frances (2002) stated that the key roles of a supervisor can be divided into the role of modeling supervisee s ability and technique, which are the competencies, and into the role of a facilitator and evaluator (Frances, 2002). A common goal of the studies examined to this point is to try to increase education s effectiveness by applying the educational contents and methods that suit the level of supervisees. However, most of the studies conducted in Korea regarding supervision were carried out mainly from the viewpoint of supervisors. In particular, if the supervision is considered as a form of education for therapists, then, it will help to increase motivation for supervision if the demand of the supervisee, who is the beneficiary of education and his or her desperate demand for education, is factored into the education for supervision as a means of increasing education s effectiveness. To this, this study sought to compare the tendency when it comes to the level of education regarding the contents of supervision following music therapists experience level. The reason for the demand for education following experience is because the resulting data is considered the most objective data for distinguishing the level of therapists. Going steps further, results of this study provide the basis for presenting the direction of supervision that it should go, and can provide supervisors guidelines when there is no 2

structured education system for the supervisors of music therapy in Korea. METHOD Subjects This study conducted survey targeting music therapy Master s students and Master s program candidates and graduates. Questionnaires were sent to the 291 music therapists including current Master s students at graduate schools located in Korea and overseas and graduates via e-mail. From among them, 144 copies were subjected to the final statistical processing and utilized for the analysis of results. Measures Questionnaire on the contents of the education for the supervision when it comes to music therapy was re-configured, using the questionnaire on the analysis of the demand for supervision developed by Moon (1998). 1. Elements concerning music therapists background Background elements: Demographic factors, current status on practical training and work were produced, divided into those who are pursuing Master s program and for graduates. 2. Current status concerning supervision and level of demand The researcher drafted in person by referring to the previous studies on the supervision pertaining to the current status concerning supervision and level of demand. This includes the questions regarding the question of supervision that is carried out today, form and frequency of the supervision that is being carried out, satisfaction level towards the supervision that is being carried out currently, level of demand towards supervision, level of demand towards the form and frequency of supervision and on the conditions for the vitalization of supervision. 3. Contents of the education on music therapy supervision As for the questionnaire on the music therapy contents of the education on supervision, questionnaire on the analysis of the demand for supervision produced by Moon(1998) was 3

modified to suit the situation concerning music therapy while questions that are not relevant to the situation faced by music therapy were excluded. Questionnaire on the analysis of the demand for supervision produced by Moon is selfreported questionnaire of the Likert form, and it requires subjects to answer by dividing contents of the education on supervision into three levels; level of importance, proficiency level, and motivation for education. The questionnaire consisted of five sub-domains, which are communication technique, case understanding, recognizing, counseling plan and case control, humane and ethical attitude. This followed the sub-domain of the Korean Counselor Level Questionnaire (KCLQ) developed by Shim Heung Seop (1998) as it is. Moreover, questionnaire on the analysis of the demand for supervision was based on the contents of the education presented by Kim Gyae Hyun (1992) s counselor education stage model. To assess viability level of this questionnaire s contents, five supervisors were asked to graduates the appropriateness of each question when it comes to the contents of the education on supervision, degree of sub-domain that is included in those questions, and the appropriateness of the contents that explain each question using a five point scale. Their grade demonstrated that the contents are suitable for education on supervision (4.20~5.00) while the level with which each sub domain is factored in is high (4.00~5.00). Reliability level was analyzed using Cronbach α, which produced.8394,.9217, and.8753 for value of the level of importance, value of proficiency level, and value of expectation level (motivation), respectively. As such, internal consistency reliability was considered favorable. Moreover, the researcher added five questions regarding music techniques that were considered important for music therapy supervision, and this was integrated with the communication domain to be modified into language and music techniques domain. Music techniques include composition and arrangement, voice technique, technique for playing musical instrument, song selection for appreciation, and conduction technique related contents. 4

As for the contents of the questions, those that are related to the list of the qualities of music therapists identified by Taylor (1987) were selected and re-configured for use. Data Analysis Data collected from this study were subjected to analysis using SPSS WIN program (Ver.12.0). In order to identify subjects general demographics, current status concerning supervision and the average score for each question concerning the contents of education, descriptive statistics were carried out when it comes to the related questions. To compare the scores of the supervision related education contents by each group, average among the groups and One-way ANOVA were conducted. RESULTS Current status concerning supervision As for the study on the current status concerning supervision, questions on the periodical execution of supervision, frequency, form of supervision and satisfaction level were included. First, the state concerning the question of executing periodical supervision was as follows: 85% of current students and 21.1% of graduates and students of certification program answered that they receive periodical supervision today. Share of supervision for graduates may be significantly lower compared to that of the current students since graduates and students of certification program are subjected to supervision voluntarily depending on their need or this may be changed depending on the policies of their workplaces. Second, frequency of the supervision that is carried out currently took up a significant share as once per week comprising 85.1% in case of current students. Since clinical straining during educational program takes place once per week in general, it appears that there are many instances in which supervision takes place once per week as well. Meanwhile, 7% of the graduates and students of certification program cited that they get supervised once per 5

month, which is the most important frequency of supervision. Third, personal supervision took up the highest share with 40.2% in case of current students, followed by 28% for groups and 13.8% for both individuals and groups. In case of graduates and students of certification program with low supervision execution rate, supervision among colleagues and personal supervision were the highest. When the results pertaining to current students are examined, personal supervision (40.2%) and group supervision (28%) comprise the majority in case of graduate programs today. In case of graduates who completed clinical training as a part of the education program at graduate school, and students of certification program, personal supervision (7%) and supervision by colleague (7%) which are the highest share, can be considered the main forms of supervision. Fourth, 13 (14.9%), 38 (43.7%), 24 (27.6%), 3 (3.4%) and 0 (0%) of the current students answered very satisfied, satisfied, average, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied, respectively when it comes to the question that asked about their level of satisfaction regarding supervision that is conducted today. Likewise, share of satisfaction (58.6%) was significantly higher than the share of dissatisfaction (3.4%). In case of graduates and students of certification program, 4 (7%), 2 (3.5%), 5 (8.8%), 1 (1.8%) and 0 (0%) answered very satisfied, satisfied, average, dissatisfied and very dissatisfied, respectively. As such, 39.6% of the current students and students of certification program answered satisfied while 20.1% answered average. This indicates that the satisfaction level is relatively high. 63% of the subjects (90) were satisfied with supervision. Demand for supervision Studies on the expectation level and demand towards supervision include the following: need for supervision, frequency of the demand for supervision, form of the demand for supervision and conditions for the vitalization of supervision. First, 44.4% and 46.6% of the respondents said that supervision is very essential and 6

essential, respectively. Thus, at least 90% said that supervision is essential. In particular, 54% and 39.1% of the current students said that supervision is very essential and essential, respectively. Likewise, it is possible to claim that they urgently feel the need for supervision as novice trainees. In case of graduates and students of certification program, 28.1%, 59.1%, 8.8% and 3.5% cited very essential, essential, average and not essential, respectively. This result demonstrates that most perceive supervision necessary since vast majority of the respondents answered very essential and essential. Second, in case of the group of current students, once per week method comprised the vast majority with 81.6% when it comes to the frequency of the demand for supervision. In case of graduates and students of certification program, 61.4% manifested highest demand with once per month. These results demonstrate that the difference in the frequency of demand is considerable between current students and graduates and students of certification program. Third, 57.6% of the respondents wanted to get both individual and group supervision when it comes to the form of the supervision demanded. In case of the group of current students, 65.5% wanted both individual and group supervision while this was true in case of 45.6% of the graduates and students of certification program. There was a significant difference in the frequency of demand for group supervision when it comes to current students, and graduates and students of certification program. Accordingly, it would be necessary to develop programs for supervision so that the current students, graduates and those pursuing certificates can gain various forms of supervision opportunities. Fourth, 74 of the subjects which comprised 51.4% said that that there is a need to expand the opportunity for supervision among the conditions for vitalizing supervision. In addition, 24.3% cited the need to secure time, and 5.6% cited cost issue. Likewise, many cited the need to increase quality of supervisor and the need to allocate various costs, time and opportunities 7

adequately on the realistic level, saying that graduates need to be re-educated continually at graduate program. 48.3% of the current students and 56.1% of the graduates and those in the certification program said that they feel considerable desire for the increased opportunity for supervision. Accordingly, it would be necessary to expand supervision program so that the music therapists can gain supervision opportunities of diverse forms. Demand for the contents of the education on supervision First, average score of case understanding among the sub domains was highest with 3.08 when it comes to the music therapists contents of the education on supervision, followed by recognizing with 3.01, therapy plan and case control with 3.01, therapists humane and ethical attitude with 2.68 and language and music techniques with 2.43. As for the total average, minimum value was 2.22 while maximum value was 3.33. Likewise, it is possible to see that the demand for the education when it comes to all the Likert questions is relatively high. Moreover, questions 18 to 22 regarding music technique domain were placed in the back, while the rest of the questions were arranged chronologically. Given this, the initial part of the therapy domain that addresses therapists role that entails diagnosing client and planning for therapy assumed relatively high score. As respondents moved onto other questions in the back, graph tended to decrease incrementally. With this, research subjects demonstrated that they have high demand for education when it comes to the initial diagnosis and therapy plan parts in overall. As such, it is deemed that initial diagnosis while planning for the contents of the education on supervision and actively factoring into the therapy plan would be necessary. Meanwhile, for music therapists who use music as the main tool for therapy, it is necessary to focus on the fact that the music and language technique domains manifested the lowest average score. This may be interpreted as the music therapists in Korea being skilled when it comes to the music and language technique. This implies that there is a high demand for education in case of the case understanding, recognizing, therapy plan and case control 8

domain that are needed jointly in the mental health domain. Second, demand for education for the case understanding, recognizing, therapy plan and case control domain is relatively high in all the three groups, current students, those with two year-long experience after the completion of internship, and group with more than two yearlong experience after the internship when measured with the average for education demand when it comes to the five sub domains on the contents of the education on supervision. But it is difficult to identify which one exerts greater effect since the mean difference between them is very small. Meanwhile, average scores for therapists humane and ethical attitude domain and language and music techniques are relatively low at 2 point level. But it is difficult to identify which one exerts greater effect since the mean difference between them is very small. In the end, music therapists appear to perceive abilities related to case understanding, recognizing, therapy plan and case control regardless of the experience level as the most important abilities. Moreover, it appears as if they perceive that their abilities related to humane, ethical attitude, music and language technology related abilities are higher compared to other abilities. Accordingly, there was high motivation for the remaining domains after excluding humane and ethical attitude, and language and music techniques that they considered themselves to be relatively skilled in. In particular, it is presumed that the expectation level towards supervision when it comes to the case understanding that all three groups perceive as very important In particular, level of expectation towards supervision in case of the case understanding which all the three groups perceived as very important, is presumed to be the highest. In case of the supervision development theory which was addressed by a previous study mentioned earlier, it is considered that the contents of the education on supervision change according to supervisees development. Accordingly, this study compared supervisees demand for education using experience, which is an objective standard for distinguishing development 9

and ability level. However, there was no significant difference by the groups with experience. This may be because the experience of music therapists in Korea is still short making comparison between groups difficult. Third, as for the classification of research subjects by those who majored in music and who did not, this study compared the difference by distinguishing research subjects major from music school and from non-music school. 65.3% of all the respondents majored in music while 34.7% graduated from non-music school. Averages for the demand for education among these two groups were compared in five domains concerning the contents of the education on supervision, which demonstrated that the demand for education concerning case understanding, recognizing, therapy plan and case control domain is relatively high in the two groups, while average scores for therapists humane and ethical attitude domain, and language and music techniques are relatively low at two-point levels. In all the sub domains, average of those who graduated from music school was higher, however, in case of the recognizing, therapy plan and case control, therapists humane and ethical attitude, language and music techniques domain, mean difference was too low to be compared in a significant manner. Meanwhile, among the sub domains, case understanding was p=0.026 (p<.05), manifesting significant mean difference. Those who graduated from music school manifested significantly higher result when it comes to the case understanding. Since those who graduated from music school manifested significantly higher average score when it comes to the case understanding, it is possible to assume that the demand for education when it comes to case understanding is significantly higher in case of those who graduated from music school. Moreover, given that the overall score of those who graduated from music school is high excluding the case understanding domain, it may have appeared that their demand for supervision is higher. However, the difference was not statistically significant. Fourth, when the demand for education depending on the existence of supervision 10

experience after the completion of the clinical training as a part of the regular education program was compared, those with experience in supervision manifested an average score of 3.33 for case understanding domain. This was higher than the average score of the group without experience (2.97). Although not statistically significant due to p=.055 (p>.05), still, high correlation was manifested. This result indicates that the group with experience tends to manifest higher demand for education when it comes to case understanding. Average scores for therapy plan and case control, therapists humane and ethical attitude, and language and music techniques did not manifest statistically significant difference in two groups although average score of those with experience is higher than that of the group with no experience. In these two groups, average score was higher for case understanding domain, recognizing domain, therapy plan and case control domain compared to therapists humane and ethical attitude, language and music techniques domain. DISCUSSION This study is meaningful in the sense that this is the start of the studies on the supervision of music therapy. The data on the current status concerning supervision and demand for the educational contents identified by this study served as the base data that can be factored in when developing program for supervision. Based on this, it may be possible to develop program for supervision for the graduates and to re-configure the supervision that is being carried out at the graduate schools today. In addition, because this study analyzed the demand for education from the point of view of supervisees who are the targets of education, this may have laid down the foundation for developing contents of education effectively in order to encourage supervisees to participate in the supervision actively. Secondly, it would be necessary to apply the results of the demand for differentiated education to the supervision by understanding the cases depending on whether one has 11

experience in supervising or not and depending on their undergraduate majors after the completion of the regular educational program. Third, given the reality of the Korea that does not have educational system or guideline for supervision, this study does not merely provide basic information pertaining to the supervisor and on the current status concerning supervision, but it also serves as the basic guideline that enables them to supply effective education as the suppliers of supervision since they can now understand the supervisees demand for quality education. Fourth, this study is meaningful in the sense that it factored in the clients to keep the level of supervision consistent and to sustain the quality of supervision for this end. Notwithstanding this significance, this study has its limits as follows. Because the samples for this study are limited to merely 144 music therapists including the graduate students, graduates and certificate holders, lecturers and professors at the four graduate schools in Seoul, there is a limit to the size of the sample. Furthermore, this study may have excluded another major group of therapists those without a license but who have continued to provide some form of therapy using music as a medium. By this, I mean music teachers and counselors who may have used music as a medium. In addition, there is a limit when it comes to generalizing the characteristics of the sample group to speak for all the music therapists. Moreover, this study was conducted without distinguishing between supervision among individuals, groups and colleagues. As the previous studies mentioned above disclosed that there are set of advantages and disadvantages following the forms of supervision there is a need to conduct studies by differentiating the contents of education for supervision by distinguishing between the forms of supervision. Furthermore, this study did not examine the information related to supervisor. Going forth, other studies could indeed study the information pertaining to supervisors in greater detail. 12

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