Social Worker Supervision with Novice and Experienced Workers

ABSTRACT

This empirical study compares the perceptions of social work supervisors about the needs of novice and experienced social work supervisees. The respondents, 211 supervisors in public welfare agencies in Israel, provided novice workers more supervisory time in 6 of the 8 content areas examined: administrative matters; inspection and control; inter-organizational communication; client issues; job-related tensions; and personal tensions. Projects in the community were given priority to experienced rather than novice supervisees, and professional development was regarded by the supervisors as equally important for novice and experienced workers. Comparisons were also made between the actual and preferred supervisory time allotment.     

External supervision for social workers in another socio-political context: a qualitative study in Shenzhen,China

External supervision of local social workers has become a common practice in Shenzhen, China as the development of social work as a profession reaches break-neck pace and when the shortage of experienced social work supervisors also becomes acute. Hence, many supervisors have been recruited externally from Hong Kong to fill the gap. However, for external supervisors working in another socio-political context they will need an awareness and sensitivity of cultural issues, and cultural dynamics in supervision. Based on a qualitative study conducted in Shenzhen of 16 in-depth interviews with supervisors and supervisees in eight supervisory dyads, as well as a focus group meeting with three external supervisors from Hong Kong, this study finds that the institutional hierarchy, ruling culture and traditional Confucian values which place great importance of harmony, reciprocal relationships with others, effective self-control and respect for hierarchy have impacted the day-to-day practice as well as the interactions between social workers and their external supervisors in Shenzhen. The implications of this study is that in achieving successful supervisory practice the further development of intercultural competence is one of the key directions for professionalising social work in the Chinese Mainland.     

Colorful Disclosures: Identifying Identity-Based Differences and Enhancing Critical Consciousness in Supervision

ABSTRACT

Managing microaggressions and marginalizing experiences while negotiating the ongoing oppression that occurs in micro, mezzo, and macro settings can be particularly challenging for clinicians of color. Thus, supervision with clinicians of color must include affirmation, empowerment, and exploration of the intracultural/intercultural dynamics inherent in the treatment-providing process and clinical supervision. Through case studies, autoethnographic studies of our supervision experiences, and interviews with supervisors and supervisees, we reflect on how axes of identity, including race, power, and privilege, inform practitioners’ clinical lenses and affect their vulnerability in treatment and the clinical supervision dyad. Special attention is placed on the clinical supervisor–clinician–client triad (the triple process) and the interpersonal dynamics of cultural sensitivity, cultural humility, and authentic responsiveness that supervisors aim to model and cultivate in the supervisory relationship. In addition to sustaining clinical growth for clinicians of color, adding this level of complexity to supervision supports equity in direct clinical practice, enhancing efficacy outcomes for clients and communities. Recommendations and pedagogical strategies are offered to support supervisors in initiating difficult dialogues and shifting the paradigm to promote this transformational perspective.     

Culture and context in Chinese field supervision: a case study from Shanghai

Supervision that provides supports helps students to develop intervention skills and forms a strong professional identity. Yet, the literature on supervision largely stems from Western countries. Less is known about supervisory relationships in countries such as China. This article presents a qualitative case study of three MSW students and two supervisors in Mainland China focusing on how the practice context and Chinese cultural norms intersect with student expectations over a 10-month period. Findings demonstrate important differences between student expectations for supervision and the reality of their experience. These differences are based in current realities but reinforced by cultural norms.     

Illuminating the Phenomenological Challenges of Cross-Cultural Supervision

ABSTRACT

The authors discuss transference enactments that occur during cross-cultural supervision. Previous research has shown that few mental health professionals willingly talk about race during supervision and that White supervisees experience significant difficulty when directly engaged in discussions about race. They introduce a new phenomenon, “stereotypical” transference enactments, as a means for understanding the countertransference Black female clinical supervisors experience during clinical supervision of White supervisees. The findings indicated that effective cross-cultural supervision should address the intersectionality of race and gender to enhance the development of multicultural clinical skills. The clinical and educational challenges are discussed by using two case vignettes.     

Revitalizing the Vision in Supervision: Supporting the Supervisor in Home-Based Therapy Programs

Home-based programs provide a growing number of mental health and case-management services to high-risk children, adolescents, and their families. The clinical service providers who work directly with these children and families have varying degrees of education and practice experience as well as a range of different supervisory needs. Because of the daily challenges service providers face, they require support from competent, available supervisors. The professionals who supervise them often assume that responsibility with limited, if any, training in providing supervision. New and experienced supervisors alike often find themselves in positions for which they are ill prepared, without suitable training or administrative support. This article describes a supervision seminar developed for supervisors who supervise the clinicians who provide home-based services. The seminar provides training, support, consultation, and other forms of assistance to help supervisors adapt their clinical skills for use in their supervisory roles.     

Operationalizing Kadushin's Model of Social Work Supervision

This study introduces an instrument that operationalizes Kadushin's (1976; 1985) conceptualization of the administrative, educational and supportive functions in social work supervision. The proposed Supervisory Functions Inventory (SFI) was examined with 233 supervisors, employed in three types of social welfare agencies. Factor analysis generated seven factors corresponding to the three supervisor functions. A MANOVA procedure confirmed the ability of the SF1 to distinguish between the supervisory groups. A further univariate analysis of variance revealed that the administrative function was responsible for this difference.     

Story-building and narrative in social workers' case-talk: A model of social work sensemaking

Despite the importance of decision-making in child and family social work, how social workers make sense of information in undertaking assessments and making decisions has received limited attention. Drawing on an ethnographic study of four child and family social work teams across two English local authorities, this article demonstrates how social workers make sense of the lives of children and families through a story-building process. Data comprise interviews with social workers and supervisors (n = 22), recordings of one-to-one supervision (n = 17) and observations of everyday case-talk (n = 21). A model of social work sensemaking is offered, consisting of three stages: (1) initial formulations, (2) developing the narrative and (3) adopted account. Across these stages, social workers engage in different forms of sensemaking activity, such as case framing, testing and weighing information, and generating hypotheses. Collegial and supervisory case-talk provide opportunities for social workers to scrutinize their developing narratives; however, some forms of case-talk can limit or shortcut sensemaking. This model has applications for practitioners and organizations as a tool to promote reflection on how social workers make sense of their cases. Further recommendations include social workers having access to formal and informal reflective spaces where sensemaking case-talk can take place.     

Web-Based Supervisor Training: Real Relationships in Cyberspace

Little attention has been devoted in the past to the in-depth training of clinical supervisors, although they play a pivotal role in the professional development of social workers. To address this learning gap, the Smith College School for Social Work inaugurated the Advanced Clinical Supervision Certificate Program in 2005, as part of its continuing education series. This article addresses a unique feature of the training program: a 9-month “winter practicum” of online case presentations and group discussions that follows the participants' week together on the Smith campus. The author, the practicum facilitator, describes the adjustment of the group to interactions that are not face-to-face. Themes and dynamics emerge as in any other supervisory group. The author concludes that real relationships can be fostered and maintained in cyberspace, particularly when a connection among group members has already been established through prior in-person contact.     

In Search of a Professional Supervisory Practice: External Social Work Supervision in China

This article examines the importance of supportive and educative functions in the practice of social work supervision and identifies the common features of external social work supervision. Using a qualitative study design, the author explores social workers’ need for professional supervision and support, and the functions and roles commonly played by external supervisors. A mixed model of internal and external supervision is used in some countries; however, such a method is not commonly used or discussed in the literature in Asian regions. The findings of this study suggest that the practice of external supervision should be considered by social work agencies in China. Arranging appropriate external supervisors and establishing a supportive supervisory environment at an agency level are recommended to facilitate the professional growth of social work practitioners.     

关于构建人类命运共同体的理论思考

本文首先分析了人类命运共同体构建的现实基础。这一理念的提出,不仅是对全球性问题日益严峻的回应,也是对崛起的中国如何处理与国际体系关系的回应。论文进而分析了人类命运共同体的历史阶段定位,以及构建人类命运共同体的基本原则和主要依据,最后初步设想了在全球、区域和双边层次建设人类命运共同体的具体路径。论文认为,人类命运共同体的建设必须遵循平等互利、合作共赢的基本原则,依据不同范围的复杂性,采取不同的秩序目标和合作形式,不急于追求高水平的一体化和制度化,而是着眼于建设具有高水平互信和相互认同的国家间共同体。     

Mutualism in the world: Ignorance, inequalities and market pressures

Anyone engaged on research who tries to get to know, evaluate and describe the mutual benefit movement in its worldwide context always comes up against the differences in terminology and in constitutions, as well as the disparate nature and unreliability of the financial statements: an international maze in which the observer is completely lost. In spite of the real efforts of the Association internationale de la mutualité (International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies — AIM), the European Community, the International Social Security Association (ISSA), the Institute of International Social Cooperation (ICOSI) and of universities, the history, assessment and evolution — both recent and comparative — of the mutual benefit movement remain largely "terra incognita".     

The mutual benefit movement in Chile from its origins to the present time (1853-1992)

The mutual benefit movement in Chile first appeared with the beginnings of industrialization and urbanization from the 1830s onwards. The first associations of urban workers emerged in 1853: this was followed by an initial period of expansion of mutual benefit activities until 1890. Almost all the urban trades were represented. During this period the mutual benefit movement was the principal organizing force for popular demands. From the 1890s onwards mutual benefit — linked with the workers'movement — grew rapidly and entered on a process of unification. Encouraging the development of the trade union movement, it took a leading part in determining the shape of the people's movements and maintained this role until 1924: this period marked the high point of mutual benefit activities in Chile. Mutual benefit organizations defended workers'demands and the boundaries between mutual benefit and trade union organizations were quite fluid. But the adoption of the social legislation and the support offered by certain leaders of the mutual benefit movement to the military dictatorship marked the beginning of the movement's decline. Efforts were then made to extend its scope of activities and unify the mutual benefit movement in Chile and in Latin America as a whole. The results of this were limited and the crisis continued after the Second World War. The 1973 coup d'état aggravated the situation still further. Today, with the virtual destruction of social security and its replacement by a system of private insurance schemes, one needs to ask whether the Chilean mutual benefit movement, which at one time was the principal form of popular organization, has a future.     

Supervisor–Student Relations: Examining the Spectrum of Conflicts of Interest in Bioscience Laboratories

Much attention has been given to financial conflicts of interest (COIs) in bioscience research. Yet to date, surprisingly little attention has focused on other COIs that arise in supervisor--student relations. We examine a spectrum of related situations, ranging from standard graduate supervision through to dual relationships sometimes found in research with commercial potential. We illustrate some of the less-obvious factors that can bias supervisory judgment, and situate financial COI along a spectrum of forces that are deserving of recognition. We conclude by providing two sets of recommendations: one for individual supervisors, and the other for institutions and policy-makers.     

Remembering with and Without Awareness Through Poetry to Better Understand Aging and Disability

SUMMARY

Poetry has been described as a universal translator. I offer three poems that are evocative of my experience as a child with my grandfathers and their disabilities; and as an adult attempting to deal with the impending death of my father. My wish is that the first poem will reinforce the idea that connecting with one's own memories of aged and disabled family members might support our interactions with people who are aged and disabled in the here and now. I present the final two poems to encourage those working with family members of seriously ill aged people in a hospital setting to better understand the stress of decision-making and to consider devising short-term mutual aid groups to support them during a time for which no preparation exists.     

Service Coordination for Frail Elderly Individuals: An Analysis of Case Management Practices in Québec

The objective of this article is to understand coordination as it unfolds in case management practices in the context of integrated care networks devoted to frail elderly individuals. More specifically, my goal is to describe practical coordination processes. I conducted a qualitative exploratory study using an embedded case study design. My research covers three Health and Social Services Centres in Québec. I observed that case management is more frequently justified by a situation in which home care is precarious than by the intensity and multidimensionality present in a situation. In such instances, case management intervenes through a standby mode.     

Service coordination for frail elderly individuals: an analysis of case management practices in Québec

The objective of this article is to understand coordination as it unfolds in case management practices in the context of integrated care networks devoted to frail elderly individuals. More specifically, my goal is to describe practical coordination processes. I conducted a qualitative exploratory study using an embedded case study design. My research covers three Health and Social Services Centres in Québec. I observed that case management is more frequently justified by a situation in which home care is precarious than by the intensity and multidimensionality present in a situation. In such instances, case management intervenes through a standby mode.     

On “Being” and “Doing”: Supervising Clinical Social Workers in Case-Management Practice

As clinical social work has increasingly become synonymous with reflective psychotherapeutic intervention, case-management practice is often perceived as an impediment to the consolidation of a professional identity as a clinical social worker. The clinically oriented case manager is faced with the difficult challenge of addressing the inseparable psychological and environmental needs of clients while meeting the expectations of relevant agencies and institutions. In the supervisory process of case-management practice, clinical social workers have a unique opportunity to consolidate their professional identity as they directly address the dialectic between the individual's maturational processes and the larger facilitating environment. Using illustrations from supervisory relationships, this article discusses the specific challenges of clinical supervision in case-management practice.     

A Response to Farrell

This article responds directly to an article published in this journal in February 2010 by Graham Farrell entitled ‘Situational crime prevention and its discontents: rational choice and harm reduction versus “cultural criminology” ’. (Farrell's article, in turn, was a rejoinder to my original 2007 article ‘Situational crime prevention and its discontents: rational choice theory versus the “culture of now” ’). In his article, Farrell sets out a case for the role of ‘harm reduction’ and rational choice theory as tools to reduce the contemporary crime problem, concluding that ‘Cultural criminology seems to offer little, if anything, useful to inform crime reduction efforts’. This article rejects this statement and offers a counter critique of the instrumental approach promoted by Farrell. Importantly, this response article is not intended as an outright critique of situational crime prevention per se, rather it is an assessment of Farrell's specific critical logic and the various shortcomings associated with his argument.     

Defining the Research Category in Pediatric Phase I Oncology Trials

Clinical research studies in children are classified by risk into three major categories. These are as follows: a) minimal risk studies, b) more than minimal risk studies but with benefit, and c) studies with minor increase over minimal risk but with no benefit.

Pediatric Phase I oncology trials, which are conducted in a highly vulnerable population of severely ill children with cancer, are designed to establish safety and to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD), as well as establish dose limiting toxicity (DLT). These types of studies can be associated with significant risk. The research design of such high- risk studies, which comprise short-term treatments with varying doses, is generally not associated with any clinical benefit. Classification of the research category in these pediatric studies poses a special problem for the Institutional Review Board (IRB) with major implications for the consenting process. The challenges associated with the classification of such studies are discussed in this article.