The Status of Clinical Supervision in Therapeutic Recreation in 2020: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Despite increasing attention among allied professions, clinical supervision within therapeutic recreation remains an under-researched topic. This has left the field with limited knowledge regarding the status of clinical supervision received by recreation therapists. Just one study has examined clinical supervision in RT (Jones & Anderson, 2004) and found that most recreation therapists were not receiving or giving clinical supervision. The purpose of this study was to gain a current understanding of the status of clinical supervision in TR/RT. An online survey yielded a response of 954 recreation therapists. Results indicated that most in TR/RT are not receiving or giving clinical supervision, which has worsened in the last 17 years. The majority of respondents indicated that they had not received training in clinical supervision, noted many barriers to supervision, and a need for training. Recommendations to increase access to clinical supervision as well as needs for future research are identified.