The Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Clinical Supervision Among Counsellors in Botswana

The study adopted the Explanatory sequential design of mixed method to investigate the Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices among counsellors in Botswana. Study examined counsellors’ knowledge of CS, their level of access to CS, attitudes, practices, ethical guiding principles of their clinical practice and determined possible strategies for improving the intervention. Despite clinical supervision (CS) being a mandatory requirement in counselling globally, Botswana’s practice appears to lag. Data was collected sequentially using a structured questionnaire followed by semi-structured interviews. Extensive literature from various sources was reviewed and revealed that; “psychological treatment requires psychological treatment supervision” and hence, CS is a mandatory requirement in mental health professions. However, local literature revealed very little evidence of CS implementation in Botswana regardless of the complex psychosocial challenges that led to the mushrooming of counselling centres. This status quo inspired the exploration of this phenomenon to empirically establish the knowledge, attitudes and practices of CS. Probability and non-probability sampling were used and respondents were practising counsellors of all genders aged 25 to 65 with more than 3 years of experience in counselling. Participants were drawn from five (5) districts and different environmental settings within the mental health professions of Botswana. Quantitative and qualitative methods were mixed, and data triangulation was adopted while data analysis was by SPSS, NVivo, thematic and basic qualitative content analysis. The study findings established positive attitudes, poor access, limited knowledge and competencies, ineffective practices, lack of training and lack of national guiding principles. These findings have policy and practical implications for counselling services, counsellors’ education and further research.