The effect of supervisor and trainee therapist gender on supervision discourse.

This literature suggests that male supervisors will tend to use more a more directive style and females to use a more collaborative style; that male trainee therapists will use a more resistant style and speak more than their female counterparts and that same gender supervisor-trainee therapist parings will be characterized by greater collaboration and co-operation. While these were our hypotheses, they were nested within the following four main questions which underpinned the design of the study. (1) What impact do the genders of supervisors and trainee therapists have on supervisor discourse style ? (2) What impact do the genders of supervisors and trainee therapists have on trainee therapist discourse style? (3) What impact do the genders of supervisors and trainee therapists have on combinations of particular supervisor and trainee therapist styles and on the degree to which the supervisor dominates the supervision discussion? (4) Are there significant relationship between supervisor and trainee therapist discourse variables within same gender and opposite gender supervisor and trainee therapist systems?