EFFECTS OF CLINICAL SUPERVISION INTERVENTIONS ON MANAGEMENT OF COMPASSION FATIGUE AMONG COUNSELLORS IN UASIN GISHU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

ABSTRACT Counsellors absorb and internalize the emotional pain and trauma of their clients leading to diminished empathy and detachedness. In light of this concern the study aimed at determining the role of clinical supervision interventions in management of compassion fatigue among counsellors in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The study was guided by six research objectives; To investigate the types of clinical supervision interventions offered to counsellors in Uasin Gishu County, To determine the level of compassion fatigue among counsellors in Uasin Gishu County, To determine the relationship between the normative intervention of clinical supervision and management of compassion fatigue among counselors in Uasin Gishu County, To investigate the relationship between the formative intervention of clinical supervision and management of compassion fatigue among counselors in Uasin Gishu County, To establish the relationship between the restorative intervention of clinical supervision and management compassion fatigue among counselors in Uasin Gishu County, To investigate the moderating effect of selected demographic characteristics on the relationship between clinical supervision and management of compassion fatigue among counselors in Uasin Gishu County. Four hypotheses were tested. The study was anchored on the Proctor Theory of clinical supervision and adopted embedded mixed method approach where the Ex-post facto and phenomenological designs were used. A census was used and out of the 118 counsellors practicing in Uasin Gishu County 97 participated in the study. Using critical case criteria 5 counsellors were purposively sampled for the qualitative stand. The Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale (MCSS26) gathered data on clinical supervision, the Professional Quality of Life Version 5 (ProQoL-5) for compassion fatigue, and an in-depth interview guide for qualitative data. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS Version 26.0 where t-test, correlation, Chi-square and Binary Logistic regression were performed. Qualitative analysis used themes. All the inferential statistics were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that counsellors mostly received restorative clinical supervision and 52.6% of respondents had low compassion fatigue. All the three clinical supervision interventions showed an inversely significant relationship with compassion fatigue (Normative M=28.2, SD=4.6, t=2.17, r=-0.275; Formative M=24.7,5.1, t=3.68, r=-0. 366, Restorative M=32.9, SD=7, t=3.01, r=-0.336.), p<0.05. The Chi-square test on age, gender, work experience and frequency of clinical supervision showed an existence of relationship with compassion fatigue albeit not statistically significant. Qualitative findings supported the results from the quantitative approach. Three null hypotheses were rejected (normative aOR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-0.99, p=0.032; formative aOR 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82-0.99, p=0.032; restorative aOR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.87-0.99, p=0.035). Frequency of attending clinical supervision had a moderating effect on the relationship between CS interventions and management of compassion fatigue. The study concluded that clinical supervision interventions were effective in managing compassion fatigue. The findings will be useful to counsellors, employers, and professional bodies. The study recommended; that counsellor and other mental health professionals attend regular clinical supervision, training of more counsellor supervisors in order to increase access to supervision, employers support and fund clinical supervision for their counsellors.