To Conceal or Not to Conceal
Joanna M. Drinane, Ph.D. & 3 others
March 6, 2022
Abstract
Supervision is often conceived of as the “instructional strategy that most characterizes the preparation of mental health professionals” (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019; p. 2). Engaging in this process fully and authentically inevitably involves being vulnerable in front of and with one’s supervisor in an effort to learn and grow. To more fully understand the supervisory relationship, researchers have focused on what supervisees do and do not share with their supervisors. This article sought to understand the extent to which supervisees engage in a process of concealment or nondisclosure about culture while in supervision. Cultural concealment (operationalized by Drinane, et al., 2018) was measured on 2 levels: one focused on if the supervisee concealed their own culture and one focused on if the supervisee concealed aspects of their clients’ cultural identities. First, we found significant negative associations between each of these levels of cultural concealment and satisfaction with supervision and the supervisory working alliance. We then computed a residual score whereby supervisee cultural concealment about clients was predicted by supervisee cultural concealment about themselves. This residual variable was a significant predictor of satisfaction with supervision with supervision and with the supervisory working alliance, indicating that the relationship between these levels of concealment is important and related to the process of supervision. Implications and future directions will be discussed.
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About the Authors
Melanie M. Wilcox, Ph.D.
Dr. Melanie Wilcox is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological Sciences and the Institute of Public and Preventive Health at Augusta University in Augusta, GA. She is also a licensed psychologist in private practice providing teletherapy and teleassessment. She has served in a number of leadership roles in the American Psychological Association and its Divisions, including as a current member (and 2020 Chair) of the APA Board of Educational Affairs. Her research focuses on racial and economic inequity in higher education, culturally responsive psychotherapy and training, and Whiteness, racism, and antiracism.
Stephanie Winkeljohn Black, Ph.D.
Dr. Stephanie Winkeljohn Black has a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Louisville and completed her pre-doctoral internship at Virginia Commonwealth University’s University Counseling Services. She earned a B.A. in psychology and history from The College of William & Mary in Virginia. Dr. Winkeljohn Black’s research focuses on (1) diversity in religious, spiritual, and secular (RSS) behaviors as related to mental health outcomes, (2) health professionals’ multicultural competencies and humility toward client/patients’ RSS identities, and the subsequent relation to psychotherapy training, processes, and outcomes, She also has a history of studying diversity in undergraduate populations as related to coping behaviors and mental health.
Her lab, Diversity in Religion/Spirituality/Secularism and College Students (DIRECT) Interventions, is comprised of graduate and undergraduate psychology researchers and uses quantitative (self-report measures, implicit association tasks) and qualitative focus groups) data to investigate the above areas of research.
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References
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