A Pilot Study on External Group Supervision for Child Welfare Supervisors: A Mixed-Methods Design

Child Welfare (CW) supervisors in middle management positions often experience high levels of stress due to their management role and client exposure. Yet, very few studies focus on the interventions for supporting supervisors. We conducted a pilot study on the Empowering Child Welfare Workforce (ECWW) Project, an external group supervision for CW supervisors (N = 10). We used a mixed-methods design to evaluate the effects of the ECWW Project on supervisors’ stigma, secondary traumatic stress (STS), empowerment, self-efficacy, and intent to stay. We examined the association between supervision components and the outcomes of supervisors. Results showed that external group supervision helps with reducing STS and stigma, improving supervisory skills, and was perceived as a source of support, but had little impact on other outcomes. We suggest that external group supervision can be used as an organizational wellness resource. Future research is needed to evaluate external group supervision with larger samples.