The influence of supervision on social workers' perceptions of their professional competence

In the course of their careers, most social workers receive ongoing professional supervision provided by the agencies at which they are employed. The supervision is designed to facilitate the acquisition and refinement of knowledge and skills needed to provide optimum service to the client. The ability of the worker to apply these to the daily work is the major component in the quality usually referred to as “competence.” This study found, in a sample of 290 Israeli social workers, a statistically significant association of moderate strength between the workers' satisfaction with the supervision they were receiving and their perceptions of their own professional competence.