Continuing professional development
Feature
group supervision to be effective it needs to have structure and be facilitated appropriately ( Borders 1991 ; Herkt 2005 ; Murphy-Hagan 2019 ) with on-going support for the facilitator ( Rothwell et al 2019 ).
Secondary to this , peer group supervision has been found to provide further opportunities for skill development , such as providing feedback , social networking , observational learning and modeling , and developing professional repertoires ( Valentino et al 2016 ).
The structure of our sessions
The sessions were completed virtually using the Microsoft Teams platform . This complied with social distancing guidelines , due to the pandemic , and was a familiar platform for the pilot groups as they were using it for other work purposes .
Using a virtual platform also had financial and time advantages , in comparison with face-toface meetings , especially given the rural location involved .
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Each three-hour session was held monthly , and each group comprised of occupational therapists from different locality teams . Group one had three participants and group two had two participants , with the two project managers also attending each session .
The role of the facilitator , reflector and observer were rotated within the group . Each person brought a case scenario , or learning matter , to reflect on with the facilitator . When they were not actively reflecting , participants were observing either the facilitator or the reflector in order to provide appropriate constructive feedback at the end of the discussion .
During the reflection , if an observer wished to contribute to the discussion this was facilitated by seeking permission to share an option or idea . The idea of seeking permission is one well known within coaching and is used with a view to honor autonomy and foster openness to consider the information provided ( Rogers and Maini 2016 ).
Each person had the opportunity to reflect for 30 to 40 minutes . Following this , the observers provided constructive feedback to both the facilitator and reflector around their performance in each role .
A cycle of improvement
The project followed a continuous quality improvement methodology and embedded the Plan , Do , Study , Act ( PDSA ) cycle to inform changes and facilitate a structured approach .
To achieve this , a survey was completed by participants after every two sessions , using a five-point Likert scale ( Likert 1932 ) from one – strongly disagree , to five – strongly agree , The statements scaled were :
• Peer group supervision helps meet my development and support needs ;
• Peer group supervision enabled me to contribute to the development and support of others ;
• I had opportunity to critically evaluate and reflect on my own practice ;
• Peer group supervision allowed me to become more self-aware ;
• Participating in peer group supervision has helped to improve the quality of my practice ;
• Peer group supervision has helped expand my network of support ;
• I had enough time to reflect on my chosen subject ; I had too much time to reflect on my chosen subject ; and
• I was provided with constructive feedback regarding the various roles in peer group supervision .
January 2022 OTnews 39