Field Supervision Training for a Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) Implementation Project

Although field education is considered the signature pedagogy in social work, few studies examine preparing field supervisors for clinical supervision. This study describes findings from a 3-year project during which field education supervisors were trained to supervise students’ use of screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment (SBIRT) and motivational interviewing. The core components of the supervisory training model are described (i.e., didactic training, coaching, in-person visits), and self-reported field supervisor outcomes are examined using pre-training and post-training assessments. On our 30-day post training assessment, field supervisors (n = 79) reported increased personal use of motivational interviewing (86.5% vs. 73.9% at baseline) and SBIRT (43.2% vs.17.4% at baseline) in their own practice, as well as increased agency-level use of these models. Field supervisory trainings focused on implementing specific empirically-supported treatments to promote their dissemination in social work practice. The next generation of field supervisory training research should link supervisory trainings to both student performance and client-level outcomes.