Mutual obligation? Regulating by supervision and surveillance in Australian income support policy

Through an analysis of speeches by government ministers, documents and regulations, this article examines the Australian national government’s surveillance of unemployed people through what is known as Activity Testing, and more specifically as Mutual Obligation. It seeks to merge the social policy analysis of Mutual Obligation with a surveillance perspective in order to delve deeper into the underlying nature of the policy and its implications for people who are unemployed. It does this by 1. Outlining the neo-liberal political theory underlying these policies; 2. Illustrating the nature and extent of surveillance of people in receipt of income support, and 3. Employing Foucault’s concepts of the technologies of domination and the self to highlight the controlling and coercive aspects of Mutual Obligation in achieving certain of the Government’s political and policy objectives. In doing so, the analysis will make visible something of the power exerted over the disadvantaged while subject to such surveillance.

The nature of supervision in forensic psychology : some observations and recommendations

Purpose – Supervision is often regarded as an important aspect of forensic psychological practice and yet little evidence exists to support the idea that supervised practice leads to better outcomes for either clients or organisations. This paper seeks to discuss some of the aims of supervision in relation to the needs of forensic psychologists, such that practice in this area can be developed further.

Design/methodology/approach – The current published literature on the nature of forensic supervision is reviewed and discussed.

Findings – A number of different models of supervision have been proposed and supervisory experiences can vary markedly according to both the individuals involved and the setting in which the work is conducted. There is a need to develop specialist models of supervision for those who work in forensic settings. Further research is needed to establish an evidence-base for supervisory practices.

Originality/value – There has been very little previous consideration of the nature of post-qualification forensic supervision despite the need, and in some cases requirement, that forensic practitioners receive supervision. This paper discusses some of those issues that are considered important to effective supervision in the forensic setting.

Professional supervision : a workforce retention strategy for social work?

Retaining social workers in the workforce is a significant challenge and a considerable amount of research has focused on identifying and examining the reasons why social workers choose to leave the profession. This paper presents findings collected as part of a small-scale exploratory study into why some social workers have chosen to remain in the social work profession for many years and who consider themselves to be passionate about their careers. In particular, the paper focuses on the potential of effective professional supervision as a factor that can facilitate social worker workforce retention. Supervision was mentioned by all participants in the study as being important for their wellbeing, either throughout their social work career or at particular points along the way, and supervision was also cited as one of the reasons they were still social workers. On the basis of this research, the authors argue that regular professional supervision can increase the retention rate of social worker employees; and it is, therefore, false economy not to allocate sufficient resources for effective supervision.

A cognitive behavioural intervention for overweight and obese adolescents illustrated by four case studies

This article reports four case studies illustrating the implementation of the CHOOSE HEALTH Program, a cognitive behavioural lifestyle intervention for overweight and obese adolescents. Participants were an overweight (12 years) and obese (15 years) female, and an overweight (14 years) and obese (12 years) male. The program was delivered by provisional psychologists with program specific training and supervision. All participants demonstrated improvements in body composition, and maintained or improved dietary quality and psychosocial wellbeing. The program had variable effects on physical activity and minimal effect on cardiovascular fitness for three of the four participants. While parents and adolescents required considerable assistance to develop and monitor long term program goals, these goals were a useful clinical tool to support the adolescent and parent to recognise the improvements they had made. Identification and monitoring of specific, measurable, and realistic behaviour change strategies was particularly important in assisting adolescents and their parents to translate session information into improved health behaviours. Results indicate that an adolescent overweight and obesity treatment program that promotes adolescent responsibility and autonomy, and emphasises the importance of parent support and family change is both effective and highly acceptable to both adolescents and parents.

The learning alliance : ethics in doctoral supervision

This paper is concerned with the ethics of relationships in doctoral supervision. We give an overview of four paradigms of doctoral supervision that have endured over the past 25 years and elucidate some of their strengths and limitations, contextualise them historically and consider their implications for doctoral supervision in the contemporary university. Two common threads across the four paradigms are a view of doctoral supervision as pedagogical practice and that supervisors have primary responsibility for the supervision of doctoral students. We challenge these assumptions. In their place, we propose that the goal of doctoral supervision is praxis and that this involves a learning alliance between multiple institutional agents grounded in a relational ethics of mutual responsibility.

Breaking up is hard to do : the economic impact of provisional funding contingent upon evidence development

Funding contingent upon evidence development (FED) has recently been the subject of some considerable debate in the literature but relatively little has been made of its economic impact. We argue that FED has the potential to shorten the lag between innovation and access but may also (i) crowd-out more valuable interventions in situations in which there is a fixed dedicated budget; or (ii) lead to a de facto increase in the funding threshold and increased expenditure growth in situations in which the programme budget is open-ended. Although FED would typically entail periodic review of provisional or interim listings, it may prove difficult to withdraw funding even at cost/QALY ratios well in excess of current listing thresholds. Further consideration of the design and implementation of FED processes is therefore required to ensure that its introduction yields net benefits over existing processes.

Social work supervision and discrimination

This article outlines a ‘mutual inquiry’ based approach to supervision using techniques,  concepts and insights drawn from social work supervision experience, a current Ph.D. institutional ethnographic research project and intersectionality. Good supervision of social work students and staff can progress efforts towards identifying and combatting discrimination, important steps towards a more socially just society. Reducing  discrimination also improves the quality of service provision with clients, often members  of the most marginalised groups in the community. Supervision to reduce discrimination needs to be shaped by humility rather than the more popular goal of competence. Humility is fostered when a supervisor and supervisee consider their work together from the standpoints of clients, and purposefully contemplate their complicities in the creation  and maintenance of discriminatory practices. This supervision approach aims to create the  vision, and ability, to challenge discriminatory policies and practices as they are normalised  and inflect at individual, supervision, organisational and societal levels.

The Supervision of Known Sex Offenders in the Community: Monitoring Progress and Providing Feedback

Case management is the process by which most known sex offenders who live in the community are currently supervised. However, by itself, case management has been shown to have only a modest impact on rates of re-offending, and it is only when case work and/or treatment sessions are introduced, that the benefits become apparent. This paper considers how routinely collecting and feeding back standardized data about client progress towards supervisory goals can be integrated into the offender supervision and case management process. Based on methods that have been shown to be associated with enhanced outcomes in mental health, it is suggested that the implementation of feedback approaches have the potential to both enhance the case management process and improve the effectiveness of those policies which require it.

A model for predicting clinician satisfaction with clinical supervision

Clinical supervision can improve staff satisfaction and reduce stress and burnout within the workplace and can be a component of organizational readiness to implement evidence-based practice. This study explores clinical supervision processes in alcohol and drug counselors working in telephone and online services, assessing how their experiences of supervision link to workplace satisfaction and well-being. Standardized surveys (Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale and the TCU Survey of Organizational Functioning) were completed by 43 alcohol and drug telephone counselors. Consistency of supervisors and good communication were the strongest predictors of satisfaction with clinical supervision, and satisfaction with supervision was a good predictor of overall workplace satisfaction. © 2014 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

From project supervision to advising: new conceptions of the practice

Project work has been a common feature of undergraduate degree programmes for many years. While it has been named in a variety of ways, it typically involves students undertaking a substantial learning activity that is partly self‐initiated and managed. More recently, programmes organised around the idea of work‐based learning partnerships have emerged. These can be regarded as programmes that rely on significant amounts of work‐based project work. This paper examines the implications of practices in these new programmes for project advising more generally. It argues that the conception of the role of academics in project work needs to change from one focused on project supervision to one of learning adviser. It identifies key features of this practice and discusses differences in advising from one context to another. It suggests that the activities in which academics engage need to be reappraised and that the skills and knowledge of those acting in the role of adviser be extended.