Supervision and Wellness: A Survey of Human Service Practitioners

Abstract

Organizationally provided workplace-based supervision is important for human services as it impacts service delivery, client outcomes, and organizational efficacy. Surveying human service practitioners in Ontario, Canada (N = 207), this study examined the relationship between supervision effectiveness and practitioner wellness using the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale and the Professional Quality of Life – Health Scale, conducting a MANCOVA and fitting a Structural Equation Model. Of the participants, 37% received effective supervision as defined by MCSS-26 developers, 40% non-effective supervision, and 23% no supervision. Participants whose scores reflected non-effective supervision experienced the worst wellness outcomes, worse than no supervision. Results indicate effective supervision, particularly the strength of supervisory relationship and administrative (i.e. normative) function, predicts practitioner wellness, increasing perceived support and compassion satisfaction while decreasing burnout, secondary traumatic stress, and moral distress. Findings emphasize the need for organizations to dedicate resources to effective supervision to improve practitioner wellbeing and, in turn, client outcomes.

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