Evaluation of professional supervision in Aotearoa/New Zealand: An interprofessional study

Insights Towards Trauma-Informed Nursing Supervision: An Integrative Literature Review and Thematic Analysis

Trauma-informed care (TIC) is an approach to healthcare practice that recognises the pervasiveness of trauma, and the deep and life-shaping impact this has on a person. The literature recognises the negative consequences of trauma both to the people who experience it, and the nurses who provide care for them. Professional supervision is an integral element of workforce wellbeing and practice development, and a largely unexplored avenue of support for those who deliver TIC. Strategies for delivery of TIC were clearly articulated in the background literature, however how professional supervision can support nurses who provide this was less obvious. The research aim was to explore the literature related to trauma-informed supervision in nursing to answer the question 'what skills and strategies can a supervisor use to support nurses who provide TIC in adult populations?'. An integrative review method was used and identified fifteen published articles for inclusion. These were then analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. Literature all came from the allied health field, due to paucity of literature related to nursing. Analysis revealed three themes that were developed into an emotion-cognition-action sequence; create a safe supervisory relationship; facilitate TIC learning; and build resilience. Discussion noted the intersection of review findings with the Supervision Alliance Model and TIC framework, and where other skills may be integrated to inform a trauma-informed supervisor.

Evaluation of a leadership development impact assessment toolkit: a comparative case study of experts' perspectives in three Canadian provinces

PURPOSE

This paper aims to explore users' perceptions of whether the Leadership Development Impact Assessment (LDI) Toolkit is valid, reliable, simple to use and cost-effective as a guide to its quality improvement.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The Canadian Health Leadership Network codesigned and codeveloped the LDI Toolkit as a theory-driven and evidence-informed resource that aims to assist health-care organizational development practitioners to evaluate various programs at five levels of impact: reaction, learning, application, impact and return on investment (ROI) and intangible benefits. A comparative evaluative case study was conducted using online questionnaires and semistructured telephone interviews with three health organizations where robust leadership development programs were in place. A total of seven leadership consultants and specialists participated from three Canadian provinces. Data were analyzed sequentially in two stages involving descriptive statistical analysis augmented with a qualitative content analysis of key themes.

FINDINGS

Users perceived the toolkit as cost-effective in terms of direct costs, indirect costs and intangibles; they found it easy-to-use in terms of clarity, logic and structure, ease of navigation with a coherent layout; and they assessed the sources of the evidence-informed tools and guides as appropriate. Users rated the toolkit highly on their perceptions of its validity and reliability. The analysis also informed the refinement of the toolkit.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The refined LDI Toolkit is a comprehensive online collection of various tools to support health organizations to evaluate the leadership development investments effectively and efficiently at five impact levels including ROI.

Supporting conscious competency: Validation of the Generic Supervision Assessment Tool (GSAT)

OBJECTIVES

Clinical supervision is essential for ensuring effective service delivery. International imperatives to demonstrate professional competence has increased attention on the role of supervision in enhancing client outcomes. Although supervisor competency tools are recognised as important components in effective supervision, there remains a shortage of tools that are evidenced-based, applicable across workforces and freely accessible.

DESIGN

An expert multidisciplinary group developed the Generic Supervision Assessment Tool (GSAT) to assess supervisor competencies across a range of professions. Initially the GSAT consisted of 32 items responded to by either a supervisor (GSAT-SR) or supervisee (GSAT-SE). The current study, using surveys, employed a cross-sectional design to test the reliability and construct validity of the GSAT.

METHODS

The study consisted of two phases and included 12 professional groups across Australasia. In 2018, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was undertaken with survey data from 479 supervisors and 447 supervisees. In 2019 survey data from 182 supervisors and 186 supervisees were used to conduct confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The results were used to refine and validate the GSAT.

RESULTS

The final GSAT-SR has four factors with 26 competency items. The final GSAT-SE has two factors with 21 competency items. The EFA and CFA confirmed that the GSAT-SR and the GSAT-SE are psychometrically valid tools that supervisors and supervisees can utilise to assess competencies.

CONCLUSION

As a non-discipline specific supervision tool, the GSAT is a validated, freely available tool for benchmarking the competencies of clinical supervisors across professions, potentially optimising supervisory evaluation processes and strengthening supervision effectiveness.

PRACTITIONER POINTS

Supervisor competency tools are recognised as important components of safe and effective supervision provision yet there is a dearth of valid, reliable and effective measures. The Generic Supervision Assessment Tool (GSAT-SR and GSAT-SE) are unique psychometrically valid, and reliable measures of supervisor competence. The GSAT-SR and the GSAT-SE can enhance translation of evidence-based supervision competency skills into regular practice. Validated with a broad cross section of professionals in diverse practice settings the GSAT provides a comprehensive conceptualization of supervisor competence.

Evaluating the Quality of Social Work Supervision in UK Children's Services: Comparing Self-Report and Independent Observations

Understanding how different forms of supervision support good social work practice and improve outcomes for people who use services is nearly impossible without reliable and valid evaluative measures. Yet the question of how best to evaluate the quality of supervision in different contexts is a complicated and as-yet-unsolved challenge. In this study, we observed 12 social work supervisors in a simulated supervision session offering support and guidance to an actor playing the part of an inexperienced social worker facing a casework-related crisis. A team of researchers analyzed these sessions using a customized skills-based coding framework. In addition, 19 social workers completed a questionnaire about their supervision experiences as provided by the same 12 supervisors. According to the coding framework, the supervisors demonstrated relatively modest skill levels, and we found low correlations among different skills. In contrast, according to the questionnaire data, supervisors had relatively high skill levels, and we found high correlations among different skills. The findings imply that although self-report remains the simplest way to evaluate supervision quality, other approaches are possible and may provide a different perspective. However, developing a reliable independent measure of supervision quality remains a noteworthy challenge.