Web-based peer supervision, collective self-esteem, and case conceptualization ability in school counselor trainees.

This study investigated the efficacy of a 12-week, Web-based peer supervision group in increasing school counselor trainees' collective self-esteem (i.e., positive feelings in identifying as a school counselor) and written case conceptualization ability. Results suggested that school counselor trainees who participated in a Web-based peer supervision group reported significantly higher collective self-esteem and case conceptualization skills than did their counterparts who did not participate in Web-based peer supervision. Implications of the findings for counselors in training and practicing school counselors are presented.

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The Internet is being used increasingly in academic training and clinical supervision settings (Janoff & Schoenhohz-Read, 1999; Kanz, 2001). In particular, the utilization of Web-based peer supervision interventions in school counselor training settings has received important attention in the past decade (Rust, 1995). The use of a peer group as a supervision opportunity has been reported to be helpful to many school counselor trainees and professionals (Agnew, Vaught, Getz, & Fortune, 2000; Crutchfield & Borders, 1997; Gainor & Constantine, 2002). However, few investigations have documented its effectiveness (Starling & Baker, 2000).

This study examined the extent to which school counselor trainees benefited from a peer group supervision experience that took place over the Internet. Specifically, we explored the degree to which school counselor trainees would report increases in their collective self-esteem (i.e., the extent to which they felt positively about being a school counselor) and their case conceptualization ability (i.e., the degree to which they were able to formulate a theoretical conceptualization of a student's mental health concerns) as a result of their participation in a Web-based peer supervision group. We believe this type of peer supervision experience could represent a valuable and supplementary opportunity for school counselor trainees to receive support and feedback related to their development as emerging professionals.

In peer supervision, different perspectives on how to handle a clinical situation are discussed and vicarious learning can occur (Starling & Baker, 2000). A peer supervision group also can serve as a forum for obtaining collegial support and encouragement and for addressing mutual areas of professional development (Bradley & Kottler, 2001; Roberts & Borders, 1994; Wilbur, Roberts-Wilbur, Hart, Morris, & Betz, 1994). Moreover, in peer supervision models, the traditional hierarchical and evaluative relationship between supervisor and student is de-emphasized, and it is assumed that all students have nearly equivalent amounts of experience (Benshoff & Paisley, 1996; Powell, 1996).

Receiving peer group supervision in a Web-based format, in particular, could have several important advantages for school counselor trainees. For instance, one potential benefit is that school counselor trainees can receive and offer a spectrum of feedback from peers related to working with challenging students and dealing with other professional and ethical issues (Gilbride & Stensrud, 1999). Moreover, online peer forums may serve as valuable means for providing supportive settings wherein members are able to convey concerns, challenges, and successes (Gainor & Constantine, 2002; Kanz, 2001; Rust, 1995). In fact, many qualities of in-person peer supervision groups also are found among online peer communities (McKenna & Bargh, 1998, 1999).

Web-based peer supervision groups also can provide milieus that promote school counselor trainees' professional identity development by focusing on shared professional issues and concerns (Agnew et al., 2000; Benshoff & Paisley, 1996; Crutchfield & Borders, 1997). Thus, school counselor trainees' collective self-esteem may be enhanced by their participation in such groups. Collective self-esteem refers to the extent to which individuals positively view their social group (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992). Little is known about school counselors' or school counselor trainees' positive feelings with regard to their professional roles. Although collective self-esteem has been studied primarily in ascribed social groups, such as race and gender (e.g., Constantine, Robinson, Wilton, & Caldwell, 2002; Crocker, Luhtanen, Blaine, & Broadnax, 1994), the present investigation examined collective self-esteem among school counselor trainees in the context of their participation in a Web-based peer supervision group.

In Web-based peer supervision groups, peers also may "speak" the same language and have similar skill levels, which could increase their counseling self-efficacy (Borders, 1991). Because novice counselors may find it easier to understand each other's cognitive processes than to understand a more seasoned colleague's cognitive process (Hillerbrand, 1989), a Web-based peer supervision group can be an excellent place to conceptualize clinical cases (Gainor & Constantine, 2002). The aforementioned benefits, in turn, could lead to higher-functioning school counselor trainees who are able to be therapeutically flexible and competent with a wider range of students (Crutchfield & Borders, 1997).

A salient aspect of school counselor trainees' therapeutic competence is their ability to formulate clinical conceptualizations related to students' mental health issues. Specifically, case conceptualization ability is generally composed of two distinct, but interrelated, dimensions. The first dimension is based on school counselor trainees' recognition of factors that may be contributing to the etiology of students' problems. The second dimension is based on their thoughts about what might be an effective treatment focus or plan for addressing students' difficulties. These dimensions or conceptualizations become increasingly complex as school counselor trainees make associations between and among hypothesized etiologies of presenting concerns and, accordingly, integrate these data into treatment plans. School counselor trainees' ability to perceive and conceptualize treatment information in a complex and sophisticated manner might have important implications for their ability to work effectively with students. Hence, receiving additional supervision, particularly peer supervision in a Web-based format that focuses specifically on such conceptualizations, presumably would facilitate the development of these trainees' professional competence.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study was to design and implement a Web-based supervision group to investigate the following research question: To what degree would school counselor trainees report increases in their collective self-esteem and written case conceptualization ability based on their participation in a 12-week, Web-based peer supervision group? To evaluate the effects of this Web-based group, we utilized a comparative group of school counselor trainees who did not receive any type of peer group supervision intervention (i.e., neither Web-based nor in-person peer group supervision). We hypothesized that trainees in the Web-based peer supervision group would report higher levels of collective self-esteem and evidence greater case conceptualization ability following their participation in the Web-based peer supervision group than would trainees who did not receive such an intervention.

METHOD

Participants

Forty-eight school counselor trainees who were matriculating in a master's degree program located in the Eastern region of the United States volunteered to participate in the study. Twenty-four trainees were placed in the Web-based peer supervision group format, and the other 24 trainees were members of a comparison group (i.e., a group that did not receive Web-based peer supervision). Participants were assigned to the treatment conditions or groups based on convenience rather than random placement.

The school counselor trainees in the Web-based peer supervision group consisted of 19 (79.2%) women and 5 (20.8%) men who ranged in age from 24 to 37 years (M = 28.50, SD = 3.84). The comparison group was made up of 18 (75.0%) women and 6 (25.0%) men who ranged in age from 23 to 40 years (M = 27.63, SD = 4.47). The racial and ethnic composition of the school counselor trainees in the Web-based supervision group was as follows: 15 (62.5%) White Americans, 4 (16.7%) African Americans, 3 (12.5%) Asian Americans, and 2 (8.3%) Latino Americans. School counselor trainees in the comparison group were 16 (66.7%) White Americans, 3 (12.5%) African Americans, 3 (12.5%) Asian Americans, and 2 (8.3%) Latino Americans. All 48 of the trainees who participated in the study were placed in school counseling fieldwork sites to fulfill their academic program requirements, and each of them received 1 hour of weekly on-site individual supervision in their placement settings. None of the trainees reported any previous counseling experience.

Procedures

Prior to the start of the study, the participants' approval and school counselor trainees' informed consent were obtained. The 24 school counselor trainees who volunteered to participate in the semester-long research project related to receiving peer group supervision on the Web were informed that they would be asked to take turns conceptualizing and discussing anonymous clinical cases related to their placement in fieldwork sites. They were told that they could respond with feedback and questions pertaining to each other's conceptualizations of clinical cases, and that their peer supervision sessions would be monitored by a moderator. All of these school counselor trainees reported owning a personal computer and familiarity with using a Web browser.

The school counselor trainees who participated in the Web-based peer supervision format were divided into three groups consisting of 8 students in each. Each of the Web-based supervision peer groups met for 1 hour weekly for 12 weeks as an adjunct to 1 hour of weekly individual supervision by certified school counselors in their fieldwork settings. School counselor trainees were given instructions on how to access a Web page that was developed for the purposes of the investigation, and they selected a unique user name and password allowing them access to a synchronous Internet relay chat room to conduct real-time dialogues. Ground rules addressing the maintenance of confidentiality and the use of appropriate language also were established and defined. A counseling instructor with extensive experience working in school settings moderated each of the Web-based supervision groups. This instructor also had received didactic and applied supervision training in his graduate program. The role of the moderator was to facilitate discussion of clinical cases offered by the trainees, assist school counselor trainees with their case conceptualizations when necessary, and encourage supervisees' consultation with their clinical supervisors when ethical dilemmas and clinical emergencies arose in their fieldwork sites.

Prior to the start of the investigation, the 24 school counselor trainees who volunteered to participate in the Web-based peer supervision format and the 24 school counselor trainees who made up the comparison group were asked to complete pretest instruments in person that included a brief demographic questionnaire, the Collective Self-Esteem Scale (CSES; Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992), and a case conceptualization ability exercise. These measures were administered by a research assistant who had no knowledge about the study's purposes or hypotheses. The posttest measures also were completed by all 48 of the trainees in person and included the same instruments used at pretest. Code numbers were used to match pretest and posttest data for the school counselor trainees.

After the investigation was completed, all 48 school counselor trainees were debriefed by one of the researchers and were provided with an opportunity to ask questions or to learn additional information about the study. No monetary incentives were provided to the trainees for their participation.

Instruments

Demographic questionnaire. Participants were asked to indicate their sex, age, and race or ethnicity, and whether they had had any previous counseling experience.

Collective Self-Esteem Scale. The CSES (Luhtanen & Crocker, 1992) is a 16-item, 7-point (1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree) Likert-type instrument designed to measure self-esteem as it relates to belonging to specific social groups. The CSES consists of four subscales assessing four dimensions of collective self-esteem. The first subscale, private collective self-esteem, measures the extent to which individuals feel positively about their social groups. Public collective self-esteem, the second subscale, taps individuals' beliefs about the extent to which others feel positively about their social groups. The third subscale, membership collective self-esteem, assesses the extent to which individuals believe they are good members of their own social groups. Finally, the importance to identity collective self-esteem subscale measures the degree to which individuals believe their social groups are important parts of their self-concept. Higher scores are associated with higher levels of collective self-esteem. In our study, the CSES items were revised to refer specifically to respondents' social group membership as a school counselor. Such slight modifications have been used successfully by previous researchers (e.g., Constantine et al., 2002; Crocker et al., 1994).

In validation studies, Luhtanen and Crocker (1992) reported adequate internal consistency reliabilities for the CSES subscales, ranging from .71 to .88, and a test-retest reliability coefficient of .68 for the total scale. In our study, we used the total scale score of this measure to assess school counselor trainees' overall collective self-esteem. A Cronbach's alpha of .82 was calculated for this measure.

Case conceptualization exercise. For the case conceptualization ability exercise, participants were asked to imagine that they were the school counselor for a student whom they were about to meet. They were provided with a vignette in which the student, who was described as a 12-year-old, academically gifted White female, was being referred to counseling because of recent academic failure in two of her classes, a recent onset of bouts of school fighting, social withdrawal within the past few months, and the impending divorce of her parents. Thus, there were several mental health issues that could be pertinent to the formulation of a treatment plan for the student. After reading the vignette at both pretest and posttest, the school counselor trainees were asked to write a conceptualization of at least three sentences describing what they believed to be the etiology of the student's difficulties, and to write a conceptualization of at least three sentences delineating what they believed to be effective treatment strategies or foci for addressing the student's difficulties.

To assess case conceptualization ability, a coding system was developed by which raters indicated the extent to which participants had integrated salient issues into the etiology and treatment conceptualizations of the student's presenting concerns. In this study, case conceptualization ability was measured by examining two interrelated cognitive processes. The first process, differentiation, is defined as school counselor trainees' ability to offer alternative interpretations of a student's presenting problems and the nature of the treatment that could be provided. The greater the number of options presented in relation to a student's problems, the greater the degree of differentiation. The second process, integration, is characterized by school counselor trainees' ability to develop associations between and among differentiated interpretations. In previous studies, integrative complexity coding systems have been validated (e.g., Tetlock, 1986) and have been noted to have high interrater agreement (e.g., .87; Tetlock & Kim, 1987). Moreover, similar case conceptualization exercises have been used and validated with school counselor trainees (e.g., Gainor & Constantine, 2002).

The two raters for the case conceptualization exercise were doctoral students in counselor education who were trained for 10 hours in the coding of the case conceptualization ability measure. They were unaware of the study's purposes and coded all of the open-ended etiology and treatment responses for case conceptualization ability. Case conceptualization scores ranged from 0 to 5 (0 = no differentiation, no integration; 3 = moderate differentiation, low integration; 5 = high differentiation, high integration). Final interrater agreements for the etiology and treatment ratings were .84 and .87, respectively.

RESULTS

Table 1 provides the pretest and posttest means and standard deviations for the CSES and the case conceptualization etiology and treatment exercise for the combined Web-based peer supervision groups and the comparative group of school counselor trainees. Table 2 displays the intercorrelations among the study's variables. A t test revealed no statistically significant differences between the Web-based peer supervision groups and the comparison group with regard to their pretest CSES scores, t(46) = .73, p > .05. Moreover, a multivariate analysis of variance indicated no statistically significant differences between the two groups on the pretest case conceptualization etiology and treatment scores, F(2, 45) = .98, p > .05.

A univariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was calculated to examine posttest differences between the Web-based peer supervision groups and the comparison group on the CSES, using the CSES pretest scores as a covariate. Results revealed that school counselor trainees in the Web-based peer supervision group reported significantly higher collective self-esteem than did trainees in the comparative group, F(1, 45) = 27.53, p < .001. A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) then was computed to explore posttest differences between the Web-based peer supervision groups and the comparison group on the etiology and treatment case conceptualization variables, after controlling for school counselor trainees' pretest scores on these variables. The overall MANCOVA was significant, Pillai's trace = .39, F(2, 43) = 13.61, p < .001. Follow-up ANCOVAs indicated that school counselor trainees assigned to the Web-based peer supervision groups obtained significantly higher case conceptualization etiology scores, F(1, 44) = 34.44, p < .001, and treatment scores, F(1, 44) = 21.24, p < .001, than did their counterparts in the comparison group.

DISCUSSION

We found that receiving Web-based peer group supervision that focused on improving school counselor trainees' clinical case conceptualization skills was effective in increasing their collective self-esteem. In a related investigation, Gilbride, Breithaup, and Hoehle (1996) reported that master's degree students in rehabilitation counseling used their Web-based group for discussing professional issues. Hence, Web-based peer supervision seems to offer a supportive space for school counselor trainees' discussions about their development as professional counselors. In such a forum, peers may be able to offer support, validation, and points of connection because they may be experiencing similar issues in terms of their professional training and vocational identity development.

A potentially vital implication of this study's finding is that faculty members in school counselor training programs could use Web-based supervision strategies to build a stronger sense of community among students with mutual professional interests and goals. Having a more positive sense of collective identity could serve as a buffer to professional burnout for many school counselor trainees during difficult and challenging times regarding their fieldwork responsibilities. For example, Butler and Constantine (2005) found that higher levels of collective self-esteem were associated with lower levels of professional burnout in a sample of school counselors. If their findings are considered in light of this investigation, it is possible that the collective sense of pride that some trainees may experience as a result of being a member of the school counseling profession might play a salient role in reducing feelings of burnout and in augmenting their perceived sense of professional support.

Results of our investigation also indicated that school counselor trainees' case conceptualization ability increased as a result of participating in a Web-based peer supervision group focusing on clinical case conceptualizations. Similarly, Gainor and Constantine (2002) reported that the school counselor trainees in their study evidenced greater case conceptualization ability as a result of their involvement in a Web-based supervision group. Web-based supervision appears to offer school counselor trainees the opportunity to consider responses from multiple sources (instead of just a single source as in the case of individual supervision), which may expand their ability to offer more complex interpretations of students' presenting problems and potential treatment plans. Moreover, Web-based peer supervision may allow school counselor trainees to reflect on their own case conceptualizations more extensively, along with the written feedback received from peers, because they could presumably examine this information in greater depth outside of supervision and save or print out this information for use at a later date (e.g., in subsequent individual supervision sessions with their on-site fieldwork supervisor). A crucial implication of this finding is that school counselor trainees' improved case conceptualization skills, as a result of their participation in a Web-based peer supervision group, might ultimately play a salient role in bolstering their competence in addressing the mental health concerns of students in school systems.

Despite the current study's findings, it seems essential to note that Gainor and Constantine (2002) reported that school counselor trainees who participated in Web-based peer group supervision reported less satisfaction with supervision and were found to have fewer case conceptualization competencies than did trainees who participated in face-to-face peer group supervision. A primary implication of their findings is that although Web-based peer supervision might be an effective means of increasing school counselor trainees' collective self-esteem and competence in conceptualizing students' mental health issues, academic training programs in school counseling should attempt to provide face-to-face pcer group supervision when possible (Gainor & Constantine). In cases where adjunctive in-person group supervision is simply not plausible (e.g., because of financial costs or extensive commuting time), Web-based peer supervision may be the best available group supervision alternative for many school counselor trainees.

Limitations of the Study

There are several potential limitations of our investigation. First, although we found significant differences in pretest and posttest collective self-esteem and case conceptualization scores between the school counselor trainees who participated in the Web-based peer supervision group and their no-treatment peers, we cannot solely attribute such changes to the Web-based intervention. For example, participants were assigned to treatment conditions based on convenience, rather than by random assignment, and this phenomenon might have affected aspects of the study's outcomes. Additional investigations, particularly studies using random assignment of participants, are needed to determine whether such effects can be replicated.

Second, the relatively small sample size raises two main concerns: generalizability of the findings and representativeness of the sample. Although the participants came to the school counseling program from various geographical regions, they were all school counselor trainees in the same program. Thus, these trainees may not represent the experiences of school counselors in training in other academic programs. Third, most of our sample was White and female. Although most school counselors and school counselor trainees in the United States are White, future studies should explore the use of peer supervision groups with counselors from more culturally diverse backgrounds.

Conclusions

Web-based peer supervision groups may help to build a stronger sense of community among school counselor trainees who may not otherwise be able to share information, thoughts, feelings, or feedback outside of the classroom. Another advantage of using Web-based peer supervision in school counselor training programs is that it may be cost-effective. In addition, this supervision modality can be accessible to many school counselor trainees from remote locations. However, several ethical considerations should be taken into account when Web-based supervision is used. For example, safeguards should be carried out to ensure that inappropriate or unauthorized individuals do not have access to confidential information shared over the Internet (Langford, 1996). In addition, although there are many benefits associated with online supervision relationships (Janoff & Schoenholtz-Read, 1999), important relationship cues (e.g., facial expressions and nonverbal communication behaviors) that might exist in face-to-face supervision may not be accessible in Web-based supervision (Gainor & Constantine, 2002; Kanz, 2001). Nevertheless, there is an ongoing need to examine the effectiveness of Web-based supervision for school counselor trainees so that we may continue to gather sufficient data about this increasingly used and potentially important training tool (Gilbride & Stensrud, 1999).

Web-based communication also could represent an attractive tool to some professional school counselors because face-to-face interactions with their peers might be infrequent. In particular, Web-based communication among school counselors located in the same geographical region might be beneficial to these individuals in terms of obtaining critical support and feedback regarding their broad and sometimes overwhelming range of professional roles and responsibilities (Kuranz, 2002; Perusse, Goodnough, & Noel, 2001). Furthermore, school counselors working in rural areas with limited professional support might benefit from Web-based consultation or supervision to expand their professional networks and receive more consistent support from their peers.

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S. Kent Butler is an assistant professor in the Division of Counseling and Family Therapy at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. E-mail: [e-mail]

Madonna G. Constantine is a professor in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.

This article is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Franklyn C. Williams, who was instrumental to its development.

Table 1. Means and Standard Deviations of the Study's Variables

                  Combined          Combined
                  Pretest Means     Posttest Means
                  and Standard      and Standard
                  Deviations for    Deviations for
                  the Web-Based     the Web-Based
Scale             Groups            Groups

Collective
Self-Esteem
Scale             4.77 (.95)        5.75 (.67)

Case
conceptual-
ization
etiology score    2.83 (.96)        3.54 (.88)

Case
conceptual-
ization
treatment score   2.50 (l.02)       3.46 (l.06)

                  Pretest Means     Posttest Means
                  and Standard      and Standard
                  Deviations for    Deviations for
                  the Comparison    the Comparison
Scale             Group             Group

Collective
Self-Esteem
Scale             4.96 (.91)        5.12 (.78)

Case
conceptual-
ization
etiology score    2.88 (.85)        2.96 (.75)

Case
conceptual-
ization
treatment score   2.50 (.72)        2.67 (.76)

Table 2. Intercorrelations Among the Study's Variables

Variable                          2      3     4       5       6

1. Pretest CSES score           .53 **  .05  .26     .15     .21
2. Posttest CSES score          --      .09  .27     .32 *   .35 *
3. Pretest CC etiology score            --   .58 **  .71 **  .49 **
4. Pretest CC treatment score                --      .48 **  .65 **
5. Posttest CC etiology score                        --      .60 **
6. Posttest CC treatment score                               --

Note. CSES = Collective Self-Estecm Scale (Luhtanen & Crocker,
1992); CC = case conceptualization.

Higher scores on each scale correspond to greater amounts of
the given variable.

* p < .05; ** p < .001.