Hopes and dreams: Ideal supervision for social workers in Hong Kong

Abstract

Ideal supervision is the hope and dream of social work supervisors and frontline workers. A qualitative study, based on 40 in-depth interviews with supervisors and frontline social workers in Hong Kong, was conducted to explore the features (purpose, format, relationship, and use of authority) of ideal supervision. It was found that social workers, whether they are supervisors or supervisees, wish to make better use of their supervision sessions in order to promote professional growth and effective decisions for clients. Social workers prefer regular, practice-based, and action-oriented supervision sessions. Supervision should aim to solve practice problems, recognize staff efforts, and encourage future professional development. Such goals are similar to those of student fieldwork supervision.