A look behind the curtain at social work supervision in interprofessional practice settings: critical themes and pressing practical challenges

ABSTRACT

Supervision has been an integral aspect of social work practice since the early days of the profession. The literature suggests that ‘supervision is an essential and integral part of the training and continuing education required for the skillful development of professional social workers’ (p. 5). The literature does appear to support that all social workers ought to have some level of supervision; however, within interprofessional settings, where social work is one of many professions, that goal may not be easily attained. Although some interprofessional settings, like hospitals, have social work departments, other settings, like schools, may only have one social worker, resulting in a workplace environment devoid of social work supervision. This article presents findings from a national study of social workers employed in interprofessional organizations. It was hypothesized that this cohort could provide important insights about the nature of social work supervision in agencies characterized by an interdisciplinary workforce. Using both open-ended and specific categorical questions, respondents were asked to describe and convey information about the supervision process and experience in their agency. An Internet-based survey was used to reach a broad spectrum of social work practitioners and educators (975 deliverable and 426 completed) across the United States.

KEYWORDS:

• Supervision
• interprofessional practice
• host agencies

Acknowledgements

The ethical codes of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work have been upheld. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Yeshiva University’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Jay Sweifach, DSW, LCSW is a Professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University, NY. Dr. Sweifach has authored over 30 journal articles, and presents nationally and internationally on an array of topics.