The effects of clinical supervision on supervisees and patients in cognitive-behavioral therapy: a study protocol for a systematic review

BACKGROUND: Clinical supervision by a senior therapist is a very common practice in psychotherapist training and psychiatric care settings. Though clinical supervision is advocated by most educational and governing institutions, the effects of clinical supervision on the supervisees’ competence, e.g., attitudes, behaviors, and skills, as well as on treatment outcomes and other patient variables are debated and largely unknown. Evidence-based practice is advocated in clinical settings but has not yet been fully implemented in educational or clinical training settings. The aim of this systematic review is to synthesize and present the empirical literature regarding effects of clinical supervision in cognitive-behavioral therapy. METHODS: This study will include a systematic review of the literature to identify studies that have empirically investigated the effects of supervision on supervised psychotherapists and/or the supervisees’ patients. A comprehensive search strategy will be conducted to identify published controlled studies indexed in the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library databases. Data on supervision outcomes in both psychotherapists and their patients will be extracted, synthesized, and reported. Risk of bias and quality of the included studies will be assessed systematically. DISCUSSION: This systematic review will rigorously follow established guidelines for systematic reviews in order to summarize and present the evidence base for clinical supervision in cognitive-behavioral therapy and may aid further research and discussion in this area. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO CRD42016046834 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13643-017-0486-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.