The influence of the supervisory working alliance on work satisfaction and work-related stress for counselors in professional settings

by Sterner, William R.

This dissertation examined the influence of the quality of the supervisory working alliance on work satisfaction and work-related stress for counselors in professional settings. A review of the literature provided an important theoretical and empirical foundation for the study, as well as theoretical antecedents for each construct and practical applications within the counseling profession. An empirical study was developed to identify counselors’ perceptions of clinical supervision and its influence on work satisfaction and work-related stress. The Supervisory Working Alliance Inventory- Trainee (SWAI-T), the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire-Short Form (MSQ), the Occupational Roles Questionnaire (ORQ) subscale of the Occupational Stress Inventory- Revised (OSI-R), and a demographic questionnaire comprised the online survey. An invitation letter was mailed to 350 randomly selected members of the American Mental Health Counseling Association, of which 71 individuals returned useable surveys. Results yielded significant relationships between total scores on the SWAI-T and the MSQ, and total scores on the SWAI-T and the ORQ. A MANOVA revealed a significant relationship between the total scores on the SWAI-T and total scores on the combined MSQ and ORQ. Results revealed that when participants had higher scores on the SWAI- T, they tended to experience higher levels of work satisfaction and lower levels of workrelated stress. The discussion that follows addresses the implications for practice, training, and research, as well as the importance of the findings on future research. iv