Cross-cultural supervision with trainees from international backgrounds

Psychological professions increasingly recognise the importance of cultural and contextual factors in clinical practice, training, and supervision. In the context of supervision, multicultural competence (Ancis & Ladany; 2010) and multicultural orientation (Hook et al., 2018; Watkins et al., 2019) have emerged as key theoretical developments, while recent empirical research has brought attention to the unique concerns and experiences of trainees from international backgrounds. This review, with a focus on qualitative studies, aimed to explore the experiences of international trainees and clinical supervisors in cross-cultural supervision. A systematic search was completed on PsycINFO, PubMed, and ProQuest databases, yielding 11 papers. Three central themes were identified, highlighting the influence of international trainees’ contextual issues in supervision, supervisory relationship dynamics, including barriers and facilitators to the supervisory alliance, and the experience of learning and growth for both groups. The current review offers recommendations for supervision with international trainees while also acknowledging the limited quality of the included papers. The paucity of studies outside the United States, underrepresentation of various trainee backgrounds, and lack of supervisor perspectives are also noted. To advance the field and enhance cross-cultural supervision practices, more robust and comprehensive research is needed, especially within a variety of international contexts