Evaluation Scale of Supervisory Skills in Social Work :

A Survey of Certified Supervisors

Abstract

  The purpose of this study was to clarify the structure of supervisory skills and to develop an evaluation scale for them in social work. This investigation can be used as basic information for creating supervisor training programs.

  The current study adopted 21 items of the supervisory skills questionnaire with 6 point grading scale and was developed based on 634 skills extracted by a qualitative investigation. A survey of 558 certified supervisors was carried out. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses were used to determine the factor structure. Associations of factor scores with self-reported attributes were calculated with analysis of variance and t-test.

  Results indicated that the scale yields 4 consistent factors : “supervisee centered”, “assignment focused”, “transfer to practice”, and “approval and evaluation”. It was found that those skills were unrelated to the years of social work experience and there was significant correlation between skills and the number of supervisees whom supervisors implemented sessions with. It became clear that for high quality supervision, training for that purpose and supervision practice were necessary.