Guangdong Research Center for NPO, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, Guangzhou 510420, China.
School of Social Work, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Jan 18;20(3):1764. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20031764.
Supervision is an imperative practice within the social work field. It provides social workers with support systems, ensures that social workers are adhering to professional standards, and protects clients. Research has also shown that quality supervision can improve social workers' professional capacity and reduce work stress. However, most of this research has been confined to social workers' experiences within Western countries and has been largely qualitative in nature. Thus, this study aims to examine the experience of 489 social workers based in Guangzhou, China to understand how supervision affects their negative affect and psychological distress. The findings indicate that supervision not only reduces negative affect and psychological distress amongst Chinese social workers, but also is especially effective for social workers with high job demands. When job demands are high, social workers who receive both individual and group supervision also appear to have lower negative affect and psychological distress as compared to social workers who only receive individual supervision. These findings emphasize the significance of supervision as a buffer factor to reduce negative affect and psychological distress amongst Chinese social workers who face high job demands.
监督是社会工作领域必不可少的实践。它为社会工作者提供支持系统，确保社会工作者遵守专业标准，并保护客户。研究还表明，高质量的监督可以提高社会工作者的专业能力并减轻工作压力。然而，大多数此类研究仅限于西方国家的社会工作者的经验，且主要是定性的。因此，本研究旨在通过对 489 名位于中国广州的社会工作者的经验进行考察，以了解监督如何影响他们的负面情绪和心理困扰。研究结果表明，监督不仅减少了中国社会工作者的负面情绪和心理困扰，而且对工作要求高的社会工作者尤其有效。当工作要求高时，接受个体监督和团体监督的社会工作者的负面情绪和心理困扰也似乎低于仅接受个体监督的社会工作者。这些发现强调了监督作为缓冲因素的重要性，可减轻中国社会工作者在面临高工作要求时的负面情绪和心理困扰。
