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Supervision
Overview
This page presents a brief review of the importance of supervision in the history of professional social work, and in the development of practitioners’ skills, professional identities, and job satisfaction.
The context of social work supervision addresses the following areas:
- Direct practice
- Professional impact
- Continued learning
- Job management
(Shulman, 2008)
Social work supervision is a basic and integral part of the profession’s approach to education and practice. It is based on the principle that those with more knowledge, skills, and experience guide the development and practices of others.
Background
Before social work was taught in academic settings, social workers were “trained” in agencies by experienced social work supervisors. Their education was transmitted orally, for the most part, through mentorship.
Through such mentorship, students learned what tasks to perform, how to build the helping relationship, and to how develop an awareness of the conscious use of self in that helping relationship. This self-awareness included:
- The understanding of boundaries between the worker and the client
- The need to balance empathy and objectivity
- The importance of staying attuned to one’s emotional reactions in relation to client-presented dynamics or situations
As social work education moved into academia, a dual approach evolved. This approach consisted of classroom and field instruction. Field instructors were required to be professional social workers of advanced experience and training. Upon the advent of licensure, many states also required that they be licensed.
With state licensure and third party reimbursement, independent clinical social work practice emerged. Many who ventured into private practice continued to recognize the importance of a supervisory or consultative colleague, who would provide opportunity for reflection, an objective perspective, and suggestions for alternate approaches.
NASW’s Standards for Clinical Social Work in Social Work Practice (2005) recommends that clinical social workers have available clinical supervision for the first five years of practice. After five years, it is recommended that case consultation remain available and accessible.
As declassification occurred—and as social agency leadership often turned to business models and use of non-social work staff—social work supervision in agencies was also affected. Increasingly, the unique social work supervisory role has been replaced with oversight that focuses more on the administrative aspects of job performance.
In addition, due to high rates of turnover, persons taking on supervisory roles often lack the requisite knowledge and experience to guide the practice of those reporting to them. Large caseloads also limit the provision of supervision focused on case-specific practice and practice mentorship models.
The term “clinical supervision” developed during social work’s movement into mental health treatment specialties. Psychodynamic models of therapy were influential in assuring that knowledge of oneself informed and protected the therapeutic relationship. Students learning “clinical social work” were expected to understand how they affect and are affected by exchanges with those they are treating.
In recent years, outcome evaluations and calls for organizational efficiency increased the profession’s attention to research-grounded practices. A number of studies have affirmed the importance of supervision in workforce retention and worker satisfaction, which translate into improved service quality.
During the past several years, as states focused on child welfare system improvement, major attention has been paid to the critical role of supervision. The result has been a vast breadth of research focusing on supervision of social workers practicing in child welfare environments.
The resources and research on this page highlight several aspects of supervision, including the supervisory role of the field instructor in the development of social work practitioners in BSW and MSW education, and the role of supervision in developing professional expertise, proficiency, and optimizing organizational functioning.
To help you find the resources you are seeking, we have organized the information into the following categories:
Special Projects and Initiatives
Clinical Supervision Conference
http://www.socialwork.buffalo.edu/csconference/index.asp
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), through a conference grant to University of Buffalo, supported an international interdisciplinary conference on clinical supervision. The fourth annual conference took place in June 2008, focusing on clinical supervision theory, practice, and research. Contemporary issues in clinical supervision and research findings related to clinical supervision of students and practitioners were also presented.
Papers from the first conference are included in a 2005 special combined issue of Clinical Supervisor, volume 24, issues 1/2,which is also co-published as a book, Supervision in Counseling: Interdisciplinary Issues and Research, edited by Lawrence Shulman and Andrew Safyer.
Southern Regional Quality Improvement Center http://www.uky.edu/SocialWork/trc/indexqic.html
The U.S. Children’s Bureau funded a five-year grant to University of Kentucky. This grant allowed the University to work with states in the Southern Region to address evidence-based practices to improve child protection work.
A needs assessment identified enhancement of caseworker supervision in public child welfare as the critical issue to be addressed. The project developed research-based innovations in several states to evaluate the use of structured methods of clinical casework supervision in child protection.
The overall quantitative and qualitative findings support the potential of a more clinical approach. Findings address satisfaction with supervision/supervisory effectiveness; professional organizational culture; worker turnover/intent to remain employed; worker practice; and case/client outcomes.
More information is available in two special journal volumes:
- Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, Volume 4, Numbers 3 and 4 (2007). This is a special issue focused on the supervision research emerging from this initiative.
- Professional Development: The International Journal of Continuing Social Work Education, Volume 9, issues 2 and 3 (2006).
Child Welfare Information Gateway http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/workforce/workforce/strategies_retain.cfm
The Child Welfare Information Gateway Library, supported by the U.S. Children’s Bureau, provides abstracts of reports, relevant Web sites, and other documents from 2000 to the present. These resources address multiple categories related to workforce enhancements, including a section on supervision.
Research Examples
A search of Social Work Abstracts using the terms clinical supervision, field supervision, and study and research and social work produced more than 1500 abstracts. We also conducted a search using supervis*. Additionally, we searched the Child Welfare Information Gateway (www.childwelfare.gov) for research resources using supervise*.
The following are selected examples of research on and about supervision, organized thematically, since 1997.
Field Education and Supervision of Students
Baum, N. (2007, September). Field supervisors' feelings and concerns at the termination of the supervisory relationship. The British Journal of Social Work, 37(6), 1095–1112.
This study deals with the neglected subject of the feelings and concerns of field supervisors at the termination of the supervisory relationship. Analysis of the written responses of 55 field supervisors to three open-ended questions reveals a mixture of coexistent feelings: satisfaction, fulfillment, and pride, along with relief, sadness, and frustration.
The study shows that respondents were primarily concerned about being good supervisors.
Half of them related to professional issues involved in the termination; about half reported being left with feelings of gratification; and others wrote of being left with the sense that they had not accomplished what they would have liked.
Beyond the specific findings, the study's main contribution is the light it sheds on supervisors' perspectives on the experience of field supervision as a whole. Recommendations for practice and research were made.
Bledsoe, S.E., Weissman, M.M., Mullen, E.J., Ponniah, K., Gameroff, M.J., Verdeli, H., Mufson, L., Fitterling, H., & Wickramaratne, P. (2007, July). Empirically supported psychotherapy in social work training programs: Does the definition of evidence matter? Research on Social Work Practice, 17(4), 449–455.
A national survey finds that 62 percent of social work programs do not require didactic and clinical supervision in any empirically supported psychotherapy (EST). The authors report the results of analysis of national survey data using two alternative classifications of EST. Their goal was to determine whether the results are due to the definition of EST used in the national survey.
Psychotherapies in the national survey are classified by three definitions of EST. Data are weighted to provide estimates generalizable to the population of social work programs. The classification of EST does not have a major impact on the findings of the national survey.
The national survey definition produces estimates of training in social work ESTs that fall between the two alternate definitions. Regardless of which definition is used, the data clearly show that the majority of social work programs offer little training in EST.
Chapman, M.V., Oppenheim, S, Shibusawa, T., & Jackson, H.M. (2003). What we bring to practice: Teaching students about professional use of self. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 23(3/4), 3–14.
This article describes "What We Bring to Practice," an innovative seven-week course designed to help students confront difficult questions about professional use of self. The course content concerns emotional reactions evoked by the client in the therapist—a phenomenon traditionally known as countertransference—and requires students to explore the basis of these reactions.
In many public agencies supervision has become mainly administrative, allowing little time for reflection or guidance in dealing with difficult client situations. This course gives fourth-semester MSW students tools for examining their reactions to clients, and provides a model of peer supervision that they can carry with them into their careers.
The article describes the background on teaching professional use of self in social work, describes the teaching methods used in the course, and presents findings from an evaluation performed nine months after graduation.
Dettlaff, A. J. (2005). The influence of personality type on the supervisory relationship in field education. The Journal of Baccalaureate Social Work, 11(1), 71–86.
The supervisory relationship between field instructor and student is an essential element of a student's professional development in field education. Although a growing body of literature exists regarding the supervisory skills and learning activities that contribute to a successful supervisory relationship, little attention has been given to personality variables in field education, or to how these variables affect that relationship.
The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of personality type on student and field instructor perspectives of the quality of the supervisory relationship. Results indicated that students who shared certain personality types with their field instructors rate the overall quality of their relationships significantly higher than those who did not share those personality types with their field instructors. Responses were similar for field instructors placed with students of differing personality types.
Data from this study suggest that recognizing and responding to personality differences can enhance the supervisory relationship for both supervisee and supervisor. Recommendations are provided for working effectively with students of differing personality types.
Peleg-Oren, N., Macgowan, M. J., &Even-Zahav, R. (2007, October). Field instructors' commitment to student supervision: Testing the investment model. Social Work Education, 26(7), 684–696.
The aim of the study was to examine field instructors' commitment to student supervision by using an adapted form of the investment model. The investment model consists of six components related to supervision: rewards (positive aspects of the job); costs (negative aspects of the job); degree of investment in the job; quality of alternative jobs; satisfaction of the job; and commitment to the job.
A non-purposive sample of 178 field instructors of bachelor-level social work students completed mailed questionnaires. The findings show that the greater the rewards, the greater the field instructors' commitment, investment, and satisfaction. On the other hand, higher job cost was inversely related to commitment, satisfaction, and investment.
Job satisfaction mediated between rewards, cost, investment, and job commitment. The article helps to illuminate some of the factors associated with field instructors' commitment to undergraduate student supervision and suggests ways of increasing it.
Pisani, A. (2005). Talk to me: Supervisee disclosure in supervision. Smith College Studies in Social Work, 75(1), 29–47.
Supervision is an essential piece of clinical training. Accordingly, it is imperative for training programs to gain a better understanding of what material supervisees bring into and leave out of supervisory discussions. This study examined what first year social work trainees disclose in supervision.
The study was conducted through mailed surveys to first year social work students attending a psychodynamically-oriented MSW program, after their first five months in clinical placement. The findings indicate that, in supervisory discussions, students are less likely to disclose attitudes and feelings related to their relationship and experience with their supervisors. However, students are more likely to disclose information related to clients.
Rinehart, B. H., & Graziano, R. (2004). Group field instruction: A model for supervising graduate students providing services to older people. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 44(1/2), 223–242.
In order to meet the need for a qualified and professionally educated work force to assist the increasing number of individuals living into advanced years, a work-study MSW program was developed. The new program uses a unique group model of field supervision as part of a specially designed gerontology curriculum.
This article describes the program, the effect of the group field supervision model on students—who were experienced employees already working with older adults and their families—and the outcomes. The elderly clients benefited substantially from the enhanced levels of knowledge and skill students gained.
Supervision and Child Welfare Practice
Alexander, J.B. (2008). Development and validation of supervisory and organizational support measures (Doctoral dissertation, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University). Available online at: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/theses/available/etd-03152008-183325/
Recruitment and retention of public child welfare workforce is in crisis due to turnover. Employee turnover is caused by: (1) dissatisfaction with job; (2) excessive stress and burnout, including vicarious trauma; and (3) a lack of support from supervisors and organizations. No instrument was found to evaluate the impact of supervisory support and the use of organizational and professional strategies.
The Supervisory and Organizational Support (SOS) survey instrument was created in response to the need for reliable and valid instruments to measure issues related to child welfare workforce turnover. The results of this study, with a sample of 387 employees in 18 Virginia Department of Social Services agencies, provide good beginning evidence of content, construct, convergent, and discriminant validity. The results also speak to the SOS survey instrument’s reliability.
As such, the SOS survey can be used in studies of social services workforce turnover/retention. However, to increase confidence in this recommendation, further research should address the implications and limitations of the current study and provide replication of the results with a different sample using confirmatory factor analysis. Finally, the SOS survey instrument may serve to assist in the evaluation of practice and policy efforts aimed at increasing worker retention.
Collins-Camargo, C. (2006). Clinical supervision in public child welfare: Themes from findings of a multi-site study. Professional Development, 9(2/3), 100–110.
This article summarizes the themes from findings of a multi-site study conducted in four states' child welfare agencies to test the effects of implementing clinical casework supervision.
The studies were conducted through the work of a 10-state collaborative administered by the Southern Regional Quality Improvement Center on Child Protection, and funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Overall quantitative and qualitative findings of the intervention's impact on satisfaction with supervision, organizational culture, worker practice in assessment and treatment, and client outcomes are summarized.
While the outcomes varied across sites, the overall findings support the potential for clinical supervision approaches to be used in this setting. The utilization of learning collaborations on the site and multi-site level was successful in promoting positive findings and comprehensive dissemination activities targeted toward impacting practice. In addition, themes regarding the use of a university, public agency, community partnership, and factors impacting the implementation and evaluation of the projects are described.
Ellett, A., Collins-Camargo, C., & Ellett, C.D. (2006). Personal and organizational correlates of outcomes in child welfare: Implications for supervision and continuing professional development. Professional Development, 9(2/3), 44–53.
This article describes the findings from recent research focusing on personal and organizational factors related to organizational outcomes in child welfare. It also discusses the implications of these findings for supervision and continuing professional development of child welfare staff.
The authors reviewed results of several recent large-scale studies that use quantitative and/or qualitative methods. This is part of an ongoing line of inquiry concerned with child welfare employee retention and organizational outcomes (including selected Child and Family Service Review (CFSR) variables).
The critical role that supervisors play in strengthening organizational culture and personal characteristics of staff (e.g. self-efficacy beliefs), as a means of enhancing organizational outcomes, is emphasized. Additionally, suggestions for future research are provided.
Ellett, A.J., Ellett, C.D., Westbrook, T.M., & Lerner, B. (2006). Toward the development of a research-based employee selection protocol: Implications for child welfare supervision, administration, and professional development. Professional Development, 9(2/3), 111–120.
This article describes components and procedures for development of a new, research-based child welfare Employee Selection Protocol (ESP). This protocol represents a model that child welfare agencies can use to better select employees with the requisite entry-level knowledge, skills, abilities, and values (KSAVs) considered minimally essential for effective job performance.
The long-term goals of developing and implementing the new ESP are to: (a) improve validity, reliability, and job-relatedness of current child welfare employee selection and hiring processes; (b) enhance standardization of new employee selection processes; (c) develop procedures to strengthen application screening of new employees who are suited for work in child welfare. Further goals are to increase child welfare employee retention rates, and to ultimately strengthen services provided to children and families. Implications for employee selection, supervision, and retention are discussed.
Jones, J.L., & Cho, S. (2006). The impact of organizational culture on intention to remain in public child welfare: A case study in Tennessee. Professional Development, 9(2/3), 78–90.
This article presents findings from an exploratory study of frontline child protective services supervisors in Tennessee and the impact professional organizational culture had on their intent to remain employed in public child welfare. This was part of a larger research demonstration project, which examined the impact of supervision on worker practice, intent to remain employed, and overall outcomes to children and families.
The Tennessee study contributed to existing child welfare literature on supervisory practices, organizational culture, and retention by: (1) focusing specifically on frontline child protection supervisor; and (2) accessing the effects and the impact of organizational culture in a public child welfare agency.
Juby, C., & Scannapieco, M. (2007). Characteristics of workload management in public child welfare agencies. Administration in Social Work. 31(3), 95-109.
This study examines the relationship among supervisor support, availability of resources, and worker ability, and their impact on workload management. Child welfare caseworkers struggle to maintain their workloads amid tremendously high caseloads and ever-increasing paperwork. A structural equation model is utilized to determine the dynamic relationship of these variables.
Results suggest that supervisor support and availability of resources directly affect workload management. Additionally, supervisor support is significantly associated with worker ability and availability of resources. While worker ability does not directly affect workload management, it is significantly related to availability of resources. Results of this study can be useful to public child welfare agencies by identifying variables associated with increased manageability of employee workloads.
Landsman, M. (2007, March/April). Supporting child welfare supervisors to improve worker retention. Child Welfare, 86(1), 105–124.
Recent child welfare research has identified supervisors as key to retaining qualified and committed workers. This paper describes implementation of a federally funded child welfare training initiative designed to improve worker retention largely through developing, implementing, and evaluating a statewide supervisor training program in a Midwestern state. Unique to this collaborative effort was involving all child welfare supervisors in identifying needed content components, developing competencies, and conducting self-assessments.
Perry, R. E. (2006, November). Education and child welfare supervisor performance: Does a social work degree matter? Research on Social Work Practice, 16(6), 591–604.
This study empirically examined whether the educational background of child welfare supervisors in Florida affects performance evaluations of their work, using a complete population sample (yielding a 58.5 percent response rate) of administrator and peer evaluations of child welfare workers' supervisors.
ANOVA procedures were utilized to determine whether performance scores on a multitude of items differed for supervisors with university degrees in social work, psychology, sociology, criminology, education, business, and other fields. The ratings of social workers' skills and competency did not statistically differ from those supervisors with other educational backgrounds on 30 measures of performance.
Educational background of child welfare supervisors is a poor predictive variable of their performance as evaluated by their superiors and peers. However, more research is needed to determine whether performance evaluations of supervisors are positively correlated with successful service outcomes with clients and evaluations of supervisory performance as gauged by front-line workers.
Shackelford, K., Sullivan, K., Harper, M., & Edwards, T. (2006). From isolation to teamwork: Mississippi's story of cultural change in child welfare. Professional Development, 9(2/3), 65–77.
Professional isolation is a major impediment to positive morale among public child welfare supervisors in rural settings. In this project in Mississippi, supervisors in two regions were provided the opportunity for ongoing peer support by engaging in structured learning laboratories of their own design followed by regular mentoring sessions with university faculty.
Using a quasi-experimental design an external evaluation team assessed the perceived changes in organizational culture, supervisee assessment of self-efficacy, and worker turnover rates between the experimental and control areas. Results showed significant positive impact from the model employed. The article offers practical suggestions on implementation of organizational change through supervisor development.
Smith, B.D. (2005, February). Job retention in child welfare: Effects of perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and intrinsic job value. Children and Youth Services Review, 27(2), 153–169.
This study uses a social-exchange framework to address child welfare job retention. Data collected from an in-person survey of child welfare staff (Time 1) and staff retention information collected 15-17 months later (Time 2) were used to test hypotheses regarding the effects of extrinsic rewards, perceived organizational support, supervisor support, and intrinsic job value on job retention.
Logistic regression and multilevel logistic regression models were conducted to assess the relative effects of individual- and organization-level influences on maintaining a child welfare job. Factors positively associated with job retention included: (a) perception that an employer promoted life-work balance; (b) perception that a supervisor was supportive and competent; and (c) that few other job alternatives were available. In addition, organization-level turnover rates and unmeasured organizational characteristics affected the likelihood of job retention.
Stalker, C.A., Mandell, D., Frensch, K.M., Harvey, C., & Wright, M. (2007, May). Child welfare workers who are exhausted yet satisfied with their jobs: How do they do it? Child and Family Social Work, 12(2), 182–191.
In response to a study of Canadian child welfare workers—which unexpectedly found participants scoring high on a measure of emotional exhaustion (burnout) and, at the same time, high on overall job satisfaction—this paper reviews research that has investigated these constructs in the social work literature. It also focuses on selected studies from sociology, social psychology, management, and women's studies.
The review reveals that some previous studies also report the coexistence of high levels of emotional exhaustion and strong job satisfaction in child welfare and social worker samples. Several studies have suggested that individual characteristics, including finding reward in helping others, having a commitment to the mandate of child welfare, and believing that one's labor is 'making a difference', contribute to satisfaction with child welfare work—in spite of work overload and emotional exhaustion. Attributions regarding causes of exhaustion, coping strategies, and goal orientation may also attenuate the expected negative effects of emotional exhaustion.
Considerable evidence supports the positive influence of variables organizational managers can control, including job autonomy, supportive supervisors, workload, promotional opportunities, and perception of personal safety. The degree to which this phenomenon is associated with female socialization and the “ethic of care” underlying social work is discussed. Implications for child welfare research, practice, and policy are offered.
Strand, V.C., & Badger, L. (2007, January/February). A clinical consultation model for child welfare supervisors. Child Welfare, 86(1), 79–96.
This article presents findings from a consultation project conducted by faculty from six schools of social work, with approximately 150 child welfare supervisors, over a two-year period. The purpose of the program was to assist supervisors with their roles as educators, mentors, and coaches for casework staff, specifically in relationship to case practice decisions. The article describes the consultation model, the development of the curriculum, the project implementation, and the results of the initial assessment.
Strolin, J.S., McCarthy, M., & Caringi, J. (2007). Causes and effects of child welfare workforce turnover: Current state of knowledge and future directions. Journal of Public Child Welfare,1(2), 29–52.
This paper provides an overview of the current state of knowledge on the causes and effects of workforce turnover in child welfare. The causes of workforce turnover are abundant, and have been categorized into three areas cited most often throughout the literature: individual factors, supervisory factors, and organizational factors.
On the other hand, the empirical research on the effects of workforce turnover in child welfare is scant. This paper discusses the need for new empirical knowledge on the relationship between turnover and child welfare outcomes. The authors conclude with consideration of the gaps in the research and implications for social work practice and profession.
Strolin-Goltzman, J., Auerbach, C. McGowan, B. G., & McCarthy, M. (2008). The relationship between organizational characteristics and workforce turnover among rural, urban, and suburban public child welfare system. Administration in Social Work, 32(1), 77–91.
Many child welfare agencies across the country are experiencing a severe workforce crisis involving high staff turnover rates. The purpose of this study was to analyze the similarities and differences on intention to leave among rural, urban, and suburban child welfare districts with an explicit focus on organizational, individual, and supervisory factors. Eight hundred and twenty workers and supervisors from twenty-five child welfare agencies participated in a survey addressing organizational, individual, and supervisory factors related to workforce turnover. ANOVA and Logistic regression models were conducted in the analysis. Findings suggest that there are unique influences on intention to leave among the three localities. Implications for social work education and organizational practice are discussed. (Author abstract)
Supervision and Job Satisfaction
Abu-Bader, S.H. (2005). Gender, ethnicity, and job satisfaction among social workers in Israel. Administration in Social Work, 29(3), 7–21.
This study: (1) examines the effect of ethnicity and gender on job satisfaction and job facets among social workers in Israel; and (2) develops two regression models predicting job satisfaction among Arab and Jewish social workers. A random sample of 218 social workers completed the surveys.
The results of MANCOVA showed a significant difference between Arab and Jewish social workers, with Jews being more satisfied than Arabs. On the other hand, no significant difference between males and females was found. Two multiple regression models were developed.
The first explained 23 percent of the total variance in job satisfaction. Two factors emerged as significant predictors of job satisfaction among Arabs: supervision and promotion. The second model explained 13 percent of the total variance in job satisfaction among Jews, with two factors emerging as significant predictors of job satisfaction: supervision and autonomy.
Cole, D., Panchanadeswaran, S., & Daining, C. (2004). Predictors of job satisfaction of licensed social workers: Perceived efficacy as a mediator of the relationship between workload and job satisfaction. Journal of Social Service Research, 31(1), 1–12.
A cross sectional design was used to examine job satisfaction of licensed social workers. Self-administered surveys were mailed to a random sample of 500 licensed social workers in Maryland. A total of 232 surveys were returned for a 46.4 percent response rate.
Perceived quality of supervision and perceived workload were predictive of job satisfaction in a multiple regression analysis. Results from a second multiple regression analysis indicated that perceived efficacy mediates the relationship between perceived workload and job satisfaction. This mediation effect suggests that the concept of workload is more complex than what has been reported in previous research. Additional implications for social work are discussed.
Cotter-Mena, K., & Bailey, J.D. (2007, August). The effects of the supervisory working alliance on worker outcomes. Journal of Social Service Research, 34(1), 55–65.
This study explored the effects of the supervisory relationship, as conceptualized by Bordin's working alliance, on social service workers' job satisfaction and burnout. Hierarchical, linear-model analyses of survey results from supervisors (n = 51) and workers (n = 80) in Healthy Families America agencies were conducted. Results showed that workers' sense of rapport within the supervisory relationship is related to job satisfaction.
While it was expected that the supervisory relationship would also relate to levels of burnout, no association was found in the analyses. However, strong negative correlations were found between the workers' feelings of rapport within the supervisory relationship and both emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.
Cotter-Mena, K.M. (2001). Impact of the supervisory relationship on worker job satisfaction and burnout (Doctoral dissertation, University of Houston, 2000).
This study explored the relation between the quality of the supervisory relationship and worker job satisfaction and burnout. The sample consisted of 80 dyads, comprised of 51 supervisors and 80 workers from 36 home visiting programs.
The quality of the supervisory relationship was measured from both the workers' and supervisors' perspectives using the Supervisory Working Alliance Index. The measurement of worker burnout and job satisfaction was accomplished with the Maslach Burnout Inventory and Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire, respectively. The study found support for the general contention that a close, quality supervisory relationship is related to high job satisfaction and low burnout.
No relation between the workers' and supervisors' perceptions of the quality of the supervisory relationship was found. Further, negative relationships were found between the workers' job satisfaction and level of burnout. Generally, low levels of burnout accompanied high levels of job satisfaction.
Egan, M., & Kadushin, G. (2004, November). Job satisfaction of home health social workers in the environment of cost containment. Health and Social Work, 29(4), 287–296.
This national survey examined the job satisfaction of 228 home health social workers in the restrictive reimbursement environment of the Medicare interim payment system. Administrators' helpfulness in resolving ethical conflicts between patient access to services and agency financial priorities contributed significantly to greater satisfaction in regression analysis. Supervisors' helpfulness in resolving the conflict moderated the difficulty of resolving the conflict.
Additionally, the frequency with which workers believed they had to compromise professional ethics contributed significantly to less satisfaction. Implications for practitioners, supervisors, administrators, and educators are discussed.
The Supervisor/Supervisee Relationship
Murphy, M.J., & Wright, D.W. (2005, July). Supervisees' perspectives of power use in supervision. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 31(3), 283–295.
In this study, the authors examined the use of power in the supervisory relationship from supervisees' perspectives. Semi-structured interviews of 11 supervisees in a Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education training program were conducted. From analysis of interview transcripts, themes about the ways in which supervisors and supervisees used power in the supervisory relationship emerged.
Supervisors' power uses included discussions of power, empowering supervisees, promoting an atmosphere of safety, collaborating with supervisees, imposition of style/orientation, and misuses of power, such as violation of confidentiality.
Themes for supervisees' power uses included supervisee-peer power, supervisees as consumers, and withholding information. Implications for researchers, supervisors, and supervisees are presented.
Tuttle, L.D. (2000). Countertransference within the context of clinical supervision (Doctoral dissertation, Smith College, 2000).
This study examined the role of the clinical supervisor in addressing the therapist's countertransference response in clinical practice. An exploratory study design was conducted in five large mental health centers located in metropolitan areas of the Northeast. Sixteen social work supervisors were interviewed in depth concerning their experiences as supervisors.
In addition to examining the fulfillment and frustrations these supervisors experienced in their work, the issue of how the supervisor addressed the supervisee's countertransference was investigated. The study focused on various dilemmas, strategies for intervention, and pitfalls these supervisors experienced in relation to the therapist's countertransference.
The results of the study confirmed the lack of training and support supervisors receive in their task. It was a finding of this study that supervisors typically address countertransference when it seems to present an interference to clinical work. While supervisors are able to maintain appropriate educational boundaries when confronting the clinician's countertransference, they also tend to view the countertransference both as an impediment and as a diagnostic tool, reflective of transference-countertransference enactments occurring within the treatment.
Consistently, it was apparent that supervisors struggled with complicated clinical and educational issues, particularly when the therapist's countertransference was examined. The results of this study strongly suggested that while supervisors have a grasp of the concept of countertransference, they do not have a theory of countertransference, which would help them make maximum use of it as a teaching tool.
The recommendations developed as a result of the conclusions of this study are grounded in the theoretical literature concerning clinical social work supervision and countertransference. Specific issues pertaining to training and support for the clinical social work supervisor are identified.
Inman, A.G. (2006, January). Supervisor multicultural competence and its relation to supervisory process and outcome. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 32(1), 73–85.
This study investigated the direct and indirect effects of marriage and family therapy trainees' perceptions of their supervisors' multicultural competence in supervision on the supervisory working alliance, trainees' multicultural competence (case conceptualization abilities in etiology and treatment), and perceived supervision satisfaction. Path analyses revealed supervisor multicultural competence to be positively associated with supervisory working alliance and perceived supervision satisfaction. In addition, supervisor multicultural competence seemed to have a negative effect on trainee etiology conceptualization abilities. Finally, results suggested supervisory working alliance to be a significant mediator in the relationship between supervisor multicultural competence and supervision satisfaction. Findings are discussed within the context of theoretical, empirical, and practical implications for multicultural supervision.
Huxley, P., Sherrill, E., Gately, C., Webber, M., Mears A., Pajak, S., Kendall, T., Medina, J., & Katona, C. (2005, October). Stress and pressures in mental health social work: The worker speaks. The British Journal of Social Work, 35(7), 1063–1079.
Two-thirds of councils with social services responsibilities (CSSRs) took part in a UK survey of mental health social workers. A one-in-five sample of front line workers was drawn, and 237 respondents completed a questionnaire and diary about their work context and content, and their attitudes toward their work, employers, mental health policy, and the place of mental health social work in modernized mental health services.
The questions, which called for free-text responses, were completed in detail and at length. This paper is structured around the themes emerging from the analysis: pressure of work; staffing matters; job satisfaction and well-being; recruitment and retention issues; and being valued.
The conclusions are that the social workers value face to face contact with service users, and that their commitment to service users is an important factor in staff retention. The most unsatisfactory aspects of their work context arise from not feeling valued by their employers and wider society, and some of the most satisfactory from the support of colleagues and supervisors. Without attention to these factors, recruitment and retention problems will remain unresolved.
Tsui, M.S., Ho, W.S., & Lam, C.M. (2005). The use of supervisory authority in Chinese cultural context. Administration in Social Work, 29(4), 51–68.
This qualitative study explores supervisory authority in the relationship between social work supervisors and frontline social workers in Hong Kong. Forty in-depth interviews and seven focus groups were conducted with supervisors, supervisees, and local experts.
The findings reflect that the supervisors dominate the decision-making process, and that their authority is apparent in the supervisor-supervisee relationship. The results reveal that, in issues related to policy or administration, or when there is an urgent need for timely decision making, supervisors would give clear instructions and adopt a straightforward decision-making strategy.
Discussion among staff is allowed and encouraged, but it focuses on issues related to professional practice or service delivery. Supervisees tend to use supervision to ensure that the supervisor is responsible for decision-making, and often become frustrated when no clear instructions are given. The Chinese attitude towards hierarchical relationship and practice of subordination to authority are obvious in the supervisor-supervisee relationship.
Most supervisors interviewed tend to adopt a "consensus by consultation and consent" approach in their supervisory practice. This approach reduces staff participation and sense of belonging. Supervisors are advised to achieve referent power and expert power by using a competence model of supervision to replace culturally ascribed authority.
Wallach, V.A., & Mueller, C.W. (2006). Job characteristics and organizational predictors of psychological empowerment among paraprofessionals within human service organizations: An exploratory study. Administration in Social Work, 30(1), 95–115.
The purpose of this study was to explore whether and to what extent job characteristics—including role ambiguity, role overload, participation, supervisor-supervisee relationships, and peer support—predict empowerment among paraprofessionals.
One hundred sixty paraprofessionals in public and private human service organizations completed confidential questionnaires on all key variables. When entered into a multiple regression, job dimensions predicted nearly one-half of the variance in empowerment. When other socio-demographic predictors, such as participant's age and gender, organizational unit size, and time in position were entered into the regression equation, theoretically defined variables predicted significant additional amounts of variance in empowerment.
The potential to influence paraprofessional staff's sense of empowerment through structuring role assignment, promoting opportunities for participation in decision making, fostering positive relationships between supervisors and their subordinates, and facilitating collaborative peer relations has implications for personnel training and development across hierarchical positions within human service organizations. Implications for social work research and practice are discussed.
Evans, W.N., & Hohenshil, T.H. (1997). Job satisfaction of substance abuse counselors. Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 15(2), 1–13.
The purpose of this study was to describe and examine the levels and sources of job satisfaction—and the relationship between job satisfaction and clinical supervision variables—for certified substance abuse counselors engaged in full-time counseling practice.
All participants in this study met or exceeded the educational and supervised experience requirements of the two boards responsible for the certification of the majority of certified substance abuse counselors in the nation (Page & Bailey, 1995). Five hundred and five counselors were surveyed by mail using an Individual Information Form and a modified form of the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (Weiss, Dawis, England, & Loftquist, 1967).
The participants were least satisfied with the opportunities for advancement and most satisfied with the opportunity to be of help to others. The results of this study also indicated that the participants' job satisfaction could be predicted, to a significant degree, by the presence of a combination of four clinical supervision variables.
Finally, 76.2 percent of the participants, though satisfied with their present jobs, indicated that they would leave their positions within the next five years. This included 17.75 percent who indicated they planned on leaving the profession of substance abuse counseling altogether.
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