Developing Competence During Supervision: Perceptions of Addiction Counselor Trainees

The research topic is the development of competence as perceived by addiction counselor trainees during supervision. Researchers explored the topic of competence in the fields of social work, psychology, medicine, and professional counseling. Researchers explored competence as it related to multicultural counseling, medical understanding, and specific counseling techniques. Addiction counselor training includes an understanding the 12 core functions within addiction counseling, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine’s six dimensions of addiction counseling. However, a gap in the research indicated the need to understand the development of competence within addiction counselor training given the different dynamics of addiction counseling preparation. The following research question was used to guide the research project: How do addiction counselor trainees describe the development of competence during supervision? A generic qualitative approach was used to understand the perceptions of addiction counselor trainees. Participants were 10 addiction counselor trainees in two Midwestern states. The sample included seven female and three males of which seven participants were Caucasian, one was Native American, one was African, and one was Hispanic. Nine of ten completed their Master’s degree while one completed an Associate’s degree. The data analysis method used after coding the raw data was thematic analysis. The following themes arose from the coding process once analyzed: (a) prior personal and professional experience, (b) consortium training, (c) academic preparation, (d) supervision, and (e) emotional intelligence. The participants believed the development of competence resulted from personal and professional experience, exposure to and active involvement in addiction services during training, academic preparation in college, active use of supervision during training, and the degree of personal emotional intelligence. While most addiction licensing boards identify the importance of academic preparation, training hours, and competency based testing procedures, none have identified the use of prior personal and professional experience and the degree of emotional intelligence. Further exploration in the utilization of emotional intelligence testing during addiction counselor training is indicated for future research based on the findings of this dissertation