1. The document describes an experiment comparing the effects of appreciative supervision versus problem-focused supervision on social work practices. 2. Ten social work cases involving risk of child abandonment were paired and one case in each pair was supervised using an appreciative approach while the other used a problem-focused one. 3. Results showed that cases under appreciative supervision saw greater reductions in abandonment risk levels, with improvements attributed more to strengthened family relationships than just addressing financial needs.

1. Appreciative Supervision.
Effects of Appreciative
Supervision on the Social
Practices
Stefan Cojocaru, PhD
Alexandru Ioan Cuza University
Department of Sociology and Social Work
Iasi,
Romania
28/04/12

2. Executive summary
l The paper analyses the way the results obtained by social
workers are influenced by appreciative supervision;
l We initiated an experiment through which we aimed to
measure the results of their activities with clients.
l The results were tested using two different approaches:
one focused on the problem and the other centered on
appreciation.
l We chose a pair of similar cases in terms of the child's
risk of abandonment and we managed each of them
differently, according to opposing views on supervision;
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3. Executive summary
l The results showed that desired changes can be brought
about more easily when using appreciative supervision.
l Apart from measuring the advantages of using
appreciative supervision, the experiment highlights the
disadvantages of focusing on the problem, the effects
obtained through the latter approach being less
substantial.
l The research results help us identify new visions of social
intervention designed to solve social problems, refine
language and achieve the desired results.
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4. Experimenting appreciative
supervision
l six-month period, during which time we
verified the results obtained by applying
two different supervision models, problem-
oriented supervision and appreciative
supervision
l we
identified ten cases with various
degrees of risk in child abandonment.
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5. Experimenting appreciative
supervision
Applied the Assessment Grid for Child Abandonment Risk and, depending on the
score, five pairs of social cases were determined, as follows:
Pair 1:
l Case 1, with a vulnerability score of 438 points
l Case 2, with a vulnerability score of 459 points
Pair 2:
l Case 3, with a vulnerability score of 812 points
l Case 4, with a vulnerability score of 826 points
Pair 3:
l Case 5, with a vulnerability score of 765 points
l Case 6, with a vulnerability score of 778 points
Pare 4:
l Case 7, with a vulnerability score of 652 points
l Case 8, with a vulnerability score of 671 points
Pair 5:
l Case 9, with a vulnerability score of 553 points
l Case 10, with a vulnerability score of 562 points
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6. Experimenting appreciative supervision
l In pairing the cases, the main criterion was the
similitude of the situations, quantified through the
risk assessment grid, and the goal was to experiment
this form of intervention management (appreciative
supervision).
l In order to check the way the situations of the ten
clients had evolved, the assessment grid for child
abandonment risk (the same instrument used
originally) was applied every three months.
l The application of the same instrument at different
moments and to all clients was a strong basis for the
objective evaluation of the modifications that had
occurred throughout the experiment.
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7. Experimenting appreciative supervision
l During the six months of the experiment, each pair of
cases was managed by a social worker.
l The cases were selected from the social workers' list of
active cases.
l In this period case supervision was provided to the five
social workers managing the ten cases included in the
experiment.
l Each social worker had one case that was supervised in
the conventional manner and one case that was
supervised appreciatively.
l The idea was to check whether appreciative supervision
has any influence on the effectiveness of case
management and to what extent it can be applied.
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8. Experimenting appreciative supervision
l The social workers were not informed about the
different approach in supervision, in order to
verify the validity of the parallel process theory
in supervision; in other words, we tried to see
whether changing the supervision approach at the
supervisor's initiative can result in the change of
the way the case management takes place.
l On the other hand, no other independent
variables were introduced, such as additional
material support for the managed cases, other
types of activities etc.
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9. hypotheses
1. The style in which supervision is organised
influences the way case management takes
place, due to the parallel process developing in
supervision.
2. The parallel process in supervision can be
directed by the supervisor at his initiative and
influences the results of the intervention at
client level.
3. The social worker's and the client's effectiveness
and results depend on the style of supervision.
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10. results
Classical supervision Appreciative
supervision
Difference in Average of Difference in Average of
absolute difference absolute difference
values across values across
the five cases the five cases
Assessment -3 0.6 -117 23.4
at three
months
Assessment -356 71.2 -1090 218
at six
months
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11. Evolution of the average reduction of child abandonment risk in
the supervised cases
Classical supervision Appreciative
supervision
General Score average according Score average
average of all to the assessment grid according to the
the supervised (cases 1,3,5,7,9) assessment grid
cases (points) (cases 2,4,6,8,10)
Initial 651.6 644 659.2
assessment
Assessment 639.6 643.4 635.8
at three
months
Assessment 507.0 572.8 441.2
at six months
(11,5 %) (33,7%)
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12. Evolution of level of abandonment risk within the
studied group
900
826
812
765 778
800
790 781
761 759 652 671
700 683
664
645
553 562
600 683 601
553 549
459 520 519
500
438
430 426 516
400 412 396
416 362
300
200
100
0
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S
S
S
S
S
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S
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S
(P
(A
(P
(A
(P
(A
(P
(A
(P
(A
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
se
se
se
se
se
se
se
se
se
se
a
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C
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a
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initial 3 month 6 month
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13. Conclusions
1. The principles of AI can be adapted and
used in the process social work
supervision and in the process of case
management.
The experiment demonstrates the usefulness
and effectiveness of appreciative
supervision by comparison to the
problem-centred supervision.
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14. Conclusions
2. When the appreciative supervision was applied,
the studied cases showed better results
compared to the cases that were supervised
classically;
in our opinion, this shows that appreciative
supervision is more effective also due to the
parallel process in supervision that influences
case management. The characteristics of
appreciative supervision were reproduced in
case management.
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15. Conclusions
3. In general, the cases that had been
supervised classically showed a degree of
decrease in vulnerability risk due to the
clients' accessing resources within the
community; the accent was placed on
supplementing resources and on filling
a financial need.
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16. Conclusions
l Inthe situation of the cases that had been
supervised appreciatively, the significant
decrease of the vulnerability risk was due
to a number of factors connected to the
improvement of the relationship with the
children's father and with the extended
family, and to the finding of a job.
accent on making the most of opportunities
based on relationships
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17. Conclusions
5. In the case of services aimed at preventing child
abandonment, it can be seen that the classical
intervention, lasting less than three months, has
no positive effect on the clients' situation.
This practically means that in such circumstances,
the financial, human and material resources
used for an intervention that lasts less than
three months are wasted without significant
results.
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18. Conclusions
4. The parallel process in supervision can be
directed by the supervisor towards the
social worker's and the client's actions.
This process does not influence just the
supervised social worker, but also,
through diffusion, the client's situation.
Awareness of this process in supervision
helps the supervisor orient the social
worker's actions and results in his/her
direct work with the client.
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19. Conclusions
6. Focussing on problems in social work
and the attempt to solve them may
sometimes not result in their resolution;
the orientation towards identifying
deficiencies and dysfunctionalities yields
poorer results than the appreciative
intervention and preserves the problem.
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20. Thanks for your appreciatively attention.
AMAI………………..
Stefan Cojocaru
Email: contact@stefancojocaru.ro
28/04/12