Students' Attitudes Towards and Engagement in Self-Disclosure: Implications for Supervision

Abstract

Social work students were surveyed to ascertain their attitudes toward and engagement in two types of self-disclosure (SD), transparency and self-involving. In general, trainees reported being prepared by their classroom education to engage in SD with clients. Students' use of self-disclosure was consistent with what has been found to be helpful to clients, even though they often were unsure of their actions. Of particular concern was the finding that students generally were not comfortable discussing SD with their field supervisor. Yet, the results suggest that the field supervisor plays an important role in encouraging students' appropriate use of self-disclosure. Suggestions for how the supervisor can assist trainees in making informed decisions regarding self-disclosure in their work with clients are provided.

Keywords::

• trainee supervision
• self-disclosure
• use of self