Practicing as a postmodern supervisor

In this article, aspects of postmodern supervision are explored that highlight the blurring of boundaries that occurs between the multiple roles performed by supervisors. An approach to supervision is detailed that shows how a supervisor who navigates between roles can assist supervisees in constructing identities congruent with the stories they tell about themselves as successful therapists. Six of the many possible roles that supervisors play are illustrated through dialogue taken from a group supervision session. In the last part of this article, concepts that inform a postmodern approach to supervision, borrowed from the literature on narrative and constructionist therapy, are discussed.     

Practice supervisors’ perceptions of social work students and their placements – an exploratory study in the Norwegian context

Practice placement has been a basic component in Social Work Programmes for many decades in Norway as elsewhere, and supervision of students has been a valued role for social workers. Here, we have carried out a pilot study of nine supervisors from various practice settings, dealing with their experience with and views about supervision of students. The aim was to get more knowledge of student supervision today and the meaning of student supervision in different practice settings. We found that the content of supervision depended on the agency context. Supervision embodies core agency values. There was a lack of common ground between supervisors and the school of social work, and between supervisors and the students.     

A TOOL FOR TRAINING SUPERVISORS: USING THE SUPERVISION FEEDBACK FORM (SFF)

As the field of supervision and training has evolved, there has been a growing recognition of and appreciation for the skills required to be an effective supervisor or trainer (Liddle, Breunlin, & Schwartz, 1988). This new awareness has pointed to the need for effective methods and tools for training family therapy supervisors. One of the tools I developed to improve my supervision complete to give me feedback on my supervision. This article describes how developing and using an SFF was valuable to me in my training as a supervisor. Based on my experience, I believe the SFF could be a useful tool in training other supervisors.     

Social Constructionism and Supervision: Experiences of AAMFT Supervisors and Supervised Therapists

A phenomenological research process was used to investigate the supervision experience for supervisors and therapists when supervisors use a social constructionist perspective. Participants of the one‐to‐one interviews were six AAMFT Approved Supervisors and six therapists providing counseling to individuals, couples and families. The findings suggest supervisors were committed to their self‐identified supervision philosophy and intentionally sought out congruence between epistemology and practice. The shared experience of therapists indicates they associated desirable supervision experiences with their supervisors’ social constructionist perspective. Our findings also indicated that supervisors’ and therapists’ understanding of social constructionism included the more controversial concepts of agency and extra‐discursiveness. This research has taken an empirical step in the direction of understanding what the social constructionist supervision experience is like for supervisors and therapists. Our findings suggest a linkage between epistemology and supervision practice and a satisfaction with the supervision process.     

GAPS between MFT supervision assumptions and common practice: suggested best practices

This article summarizes gaps between assumptions that appear in the literature, research, and accepted standards for marital and family therapy (MFT) supervision, and the common practice of supervisors. Issues that stem from these gaps are highlighted and recommendations are made for closing them. In an effort to refine the standard of practice for MFT supervision, best practice recommendations are offered for MFT supervision.     

Pathways to social work supervision

ABSTRACT

Social work research and literature in the area of supervision tends to focus on the supervision of field education students. Less attention is given to the supervision of social work practitioners and there is almost no information that examines how social workers become supervisors. This exploratory study interviewed 27 practicing social work supervisors across different fields of social work practice in Western Canada. The participants included 15 supervisors with a graduate degree and 12 supervisors with an undergraduate degree. The supervisors completed a brief questionnaire that was followed by a structured interview. Supervisors were asked how they came to be social work supervisors. Thematic analysis of the supervisors’ responses revealed three pathways to supervision: task exposure, supervision by happen chance, and deliberate decision. The responses suggested that additional focus on supervision might be included in undergraduate education and that universities, professional associations, and employers pay more attention to succession planning.     

Supervising family therapy trainees in primary care medical settings: context matters

The purpose of this article is to identify and describe four essential skills for effective supervision of family therapy trainees in primary care medical settings. The supervision skills described include: (1) Understand medical culture; (2) Locate the trainee in the treatment system; (3) Investigate the biological/health issues; and (4) Be attentive to the self-of-the-therapist. Recommendations are also made to help supervisors become better prepared for the questions medical family therapy trainees bring to supervision.     

Retention and job satisfaction of child welfare supervisors

Supervisors play a vital role in workplace productivity and organizational health, and are at the forefront of improving the capacity of the child welfare workforce. Yet there is limited research about their organizational longevity and satisfaction compared with child welfare caseworkers. This study uses data from 85% of supervisors statewide in a child welfare organization to describe intent to leave, supervision provided and received, and job qualities. Questions are: (1) what are the personal and job qualities of child welfare supervisors? (2) To what extent do supervisors report receiving and providing supervision, and (3) what personal and job qualities predict intent to leave among supervisors? Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, results showed that supervisors who receive more frequent supervision report lower levels of job stress and time pressure and more positive perceptions of organization leadership. These supervisors also reported providing more supervision to caseworkers. Greater time pressure predicted intent to leave among supervisors, indicating that there is an important balance between workload and resources in efforts to maintain quality supervisors.     

Intentions to leave supervision among social work supervisors: contributing factors

The study shows the evolution of intentions to leave supervision among students’ supervisors in their first year of supervision. A total of 168 social work supervisors in 10 academic institutions in Israel, during their first year of supervision, answered the questionnaires at the beginning (October 2014) and end (June 2015) of their supervisors training course. The findings indicate that the most powerful predictor of intentions to leave supervision at T2 was intentions to leave supervision at T1. This interesting finding shows that the supervision course does not necessarily address the issue of long-term commitment to supervision, and it is crucial that more attention be paid to this issue. Furthermore, we also found a significant contribution of organizational climate at T1 and of role overload at T2. Practical implications challenge the current structure of supervision courses, in order to encourage students’ supervisors to retain their supervisory role over time.     

Less assessment and more suggestions please: Factors contributing to effective supervision of counsellors at different experience levels

Abstract

Twenty-two supervisors and 60 supervisees working in community counselling services in Melbourne were asked to rate the importance of 46 supervisory behaviours to good supervision, as well as listing behaviours that contribute to and detract from good supervision. In general, supervisors saw good supervision as relating primarily to feedback to the supervisee, while supervisees were interested in learning new skills and gaining assistance with conceptualisation in supervision. The responses confirmed evidence of differing supervisee and supervisor perceptions of supervision seen in previous research of students' supervisory needs in America.

Differences in responses from supervisees in this sample to the American sample suggest some cultural differences and some differing needs attributable to different levels of experience. Responses in the current research support a developmental model of supervision; that supervisees have different needs as they gain experience. Applying a process model to behaviours believed to contribute to and detract from good supervision revealed that the bulk of responsibility for a good supervisory relationship is attributed to supervisors. Neither supervisors nor supervisees indicated a high level of supervisee qualities and skills that contribute to good supervision. This has obvious training implications.     

A good fit: the contribution of action learning to supervision practice

This paper discusses the value of action learning for social work supervisors. Recent years have seen renewed focus on supervision as a reflective space and some indications that the tide may be turning in regard to the dominance of managerial priorities within the supervision of direct practice. It is less evident that a similar shift is taking place for supervisors themselves and, anecdotally, many describe their own supervision as having a business focus with limited scope for reflective dialogue. While the traditional functions of supervision need to adapt to fit the responsibilities of those in management positions, it remains true that these staff provide a vital containing role within the organisational hierarchy. For that to be sustained, it is important that supervisors have space and structure within which to process the emotional, intellectual and practical challenges of their work. The integration of action learning sets within post-qualifying courses for supervisors has demonstrated a useful dual function. Firstly, they provide an effective model for group supervision, facilitating in-depth reflection on complex practice issues. Secondly, they offer managers a peer supervision forum; a safe place to explore dilemmas and share the vulnerabilities which belong to management roles as well as practice.     

Core Competencies in Social Constructionist Supervision?

Family therapy is moving increasingly toward evidence‐based practice and competency‐based training. This article explores what might seem to be an unlikely link between social constructionist supervision, which is based on dialogic and fluid processes of meaning‐making, and the increasing reliance on discrete core competencies in the education and training of family therapists. We propose an alternate approach to competencies for supervision with therapists in training that, among other things, invites accountability and provides evaluative props. The approach we propose is based on a set of orientations that we hope reflect the dialogic and contextual nature of social constructionist practice and supervision. These orientations consist of reflexivity and attention to power, fostering polyphony and generativity, collaborative stance, and focus on client resourcefulness. Ideas and questions for supervisors and therapists in training to address the orientations are articulated.     

Evaluating the Quality of Social Work Supervision in UK Children’s Services: Comparing Self-Report and Independent Observations

Understanding how different forms of supervision support good social work practice and improve outcomes for people who use services is nearly impossible without reliable and valid evaluative measures. Yet the question of how best to evaluate the quality of supervision in different contexts is a complicated and as-yet-unsolved challenge. In this study, we observed 12 social work supervisors in a simulated supervision session offering support and guidance to an actor playing the part of an inexperienced social worker facing a casework-related crisis. A team of researchers analyzed these sessions using a customized skills-based coding framework. In addition, 19 social workers completed a questionnaire about their supervision experiences as provided by the same 12 supervisors. According to the coding framework, the supervisors demonstrated relatively modest skill levels, and we found low correlations among different skills. In contrast, according to the questionnaire data, supervisors had relatively high skill levels, and we found high correlations among different skills. The findings imply that although self-report remains the simplest way to evaluate supervision quality, other approaches are possible and may provide a different perspective. However, developing a reliable independent measure of supervision quality remains a noteworthy challenge.     

EXAMINING THE MULTIFACETED NOTION OF ISOMORPHISM IN MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY SUPERVISION: A QUEST FOR CONCEPTUAL CLARITY

The notion of isomorphism has been recommended as a comceptual framework to guide the practice of marrige and family therapy (MFT) supervision. The term is frequently cited in the MFT training literature but is often used in different ways. A panel of MFT supervirors rated the impotance and relevance to both therapy and supervision of a large pool of variables. The majority of variables were found to be a equally relevant or isomorphic to the domains of MFT and MFT supervisoin. A qualitative interview with a small subset of the panelists suggested that the concept, to varying degrees, has influenced their work as supervisors. The implications of the results for theory development, research, and supervisory practices are discussed.     

Community college field placement internships: supervisors’ perspectives and recommendations

ABSTRACT

Community College human services students represent the future social service workforce. The defining feature of their training is 250 h supervised field placement internship. Despite burgeoning research describing best practices for supervision of Bachelors of social work (BSW) and Masters of social work (MSW), there is no research aimed at supervision for community college students, leaving a gap in our understanding of best practices for supporting community college students’ pedagogy and sustaining partnerships with agencies. This exploratory study offers recommendations for best practices supported by our discovery of the benefits, challenges, and strategies involved with offering community college student internships in New York City human services agencies. We analyzed data from semi-structured interviews with 30 field supervisors through qualitative content analysis. Community college students and agencies both benefit substantially from the field placement, however agencies identified significant social and structural challenges specific to working with community college students that require interventions for both field supervisors and students alike. Suggested interventions aimed at improving supervisor training, procedures for focusing goals of supervision sessions, assisting students in meeting their academic and social needs, as well as supporting supervisors’ professional goals to promote best practices are proposed.     

Students’ views on thesis supervision in international master’s degree programmes in Finnish universities

This paper employs an intercultural perspective to examine students’ views on master’s thesis supervision and the roles and responsibilities of supervisors and students. The 302 respondents who answered the online questionnaire were enrolled in international master’s degree programmes in four Finnish universities. The study revealed asymmetric views by students regarding the division of responsibilities between themselves and their supervisors. It was found that very few students and supervisors discuss the differences in study cultures between Finland and students’ countries of origin, their cultural backgrounds or the aspects of Finnish society that students do not understand. The research suggests that supervisors and students need to conduct early discussions on supervision and culture.     

Female MSW Students' Satisfaction with Practicum Supervision: The Effect of Supervisor Gender

This report of a spring 1995 study involving 78 female MSW students at the University of Georgia compares the degrees of satisfaction with field practicum supervision of those with female and male field instructors respectively, using previously published measures of supervision satisfaction. One statistically significant but practically unimportant difference was revealed favoring male supervisors. The results are discussed in terms of past literature on gender in clinical supervision; areas for future research are also suggested. The little existing empirical research appears to support a gender-neutral policy for matching MSW students with practicum supervisors.     

Infusing Clinical Supervision Throughout Child Welfare Practice: Advancing Effective Implementation of Family-Centered Practice Through Supervisory Processes

Child welfare supervision is fundamental to advancing the quality of practice when seeking to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children. Child welfare supervisors serve administrative, educational, and support functions as they oversee frontline caseworkers and direct service providers. Clinical supervision, a dialog-driven process of case review and consultation is situated within the educational function. The process of clinical supervision is essential to child welfare practice, because it prompts reflection and builds analytical thinking skills needed to address complex situations involved in child protection. Despite increased recognition regarding the importance of clinical supervision, child welfare supervision continues to focus primarily on administrative tasks. Organizational climate and external pressures push this administrative agenda. In addition, many child welfare supervisors lack experience, training, and therefore competency in facilitating clinical case reviews. Strengths-Based Supervision (SBS; Lietz 2013) is a model of clinical supervision that was developed to (a) increase child welfare supervisors’ intentionality regarding the importance of infusing clinical supervision into child welfare supervision and (b) advance the skills needed to implement this practice effectively representing one solution to this ongoing challenge.