Clinical supervision within a competency-based framework: an observational study of online and face-to-face formats

This observational study compared online and face-to-face clinical supervision in early-career professional practice. A total of 100 supervision sessions (83 face-to-face, 17 online) and 200 subsequent therapy sessions were analyzed using observational coding. No significant differences were found between formats in supervision duration, supervisory input, or relational variables. Face-to-face supervision involved greater participant interaction, whereas supervisee adherence to supervision-derived clinical guidelines was higher following online supervision. Findings indicate few observable differences across formats while highlighting differences in how supervisory recommendations are implemented in subsequent clinical practice, contributing observational evidence to competency-based and evidence-based models of clinical supervision.