Supervisor Interview Protocol
Interview Guidelines:
Briefly discuss the purpose of the interview: To gather information about their experiences in their job and with their agency.
Convey to each interview participant our confidentiality policy: 1) the interview is voluntary; 2) they can decline to answer any questions, or they can stop the interview at any time; 3) the information will be held in confidence; and 4) only evaluation staff will have access to the interview tape and interview data.
Please remember to ask permission to tape record the interview. They can decline.
Ask if they have any questions for you before you begin.
What agency do you work for? What is your position with that agency?
Have you heard of [NAME OF SOC PROJECT]?
What level of involvement have you had with it? For how long?
Have you been involved in implementing any of the changes that have been made through this effort? Which ones? How has that gone?
Do you know whether other supervisors or direct workers have been involved in your community’s [NAME OF SOC PROJECT] efforts? If so, in what ways? Are supervisors or direct workers from other agencies involved? In what ways?
Now I’d like to turn to some questions about your agency. That is, I’d like to know whether your agency focuses on specific aspects of service delivery more than others and whether you feel the agency provides the resources and support you need to do your job.
(Show document indicating SOC principles and areas of the system that might reflect those principles)
On this paper, we’ve listed a number of principles that are sometimes used to guide an agency’s actions. These include interagency collaboration, cultural competence, strengths-based focus, community-based care, family involvement, and accountability. The definitions of these principles are printed on the paper, and I’ll go over them as we go.
By looking for signs of each of these principles at these different levels of the agency, we can get a sense of how much emphasis the agency places on each principle. Some agencies will say that a principle is important, but not provide staff with the resources to implement it. For instance, they may tell staff that it is important to use a strengths-based approach but not provide training to do so; or they may emphasize accountability but staff may be too overworked to keep the MIS records up to date. Other agencies may say something’s important, like cultural competence, and make sure their protocols and policies support it; for instance, by hiring staff reflective of the population being served or requiring cultural competence training.
I’d like you to think about how much of an emphasis your agency places on each of these principles. Let’s start with interagency collaboration: What level of importance would you say your agency places on interagency collaboration? In what ways does the agency emphasize interagency collaboration? In what aspects of the agency is it lacking?
Probes:
- Is there a multidisciplinary supervisors’ meeting?
If YES: Does this group identify areas in which agencies are facing challenges in meeting children’s needs? If so, is there a way in which this information can be communicated to administrators so changes can be made?
Are there joint trainings across agencies?
Do caseworkers do joint case planning with other agencies? Any changes in the past year?
Are services coordinated across agencies?
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes interagency collaboration in the past year?
How about cultural competence—First of all how would you define cultural competence?
What level of emphasis does your agency put on being respectful of clients’ and coworkers’ cultures? Of providing culturally-appropriate services to clients? Where do you see signs that it’s important? Where don’t you?
Probes:
Have you been trained on cultural competence?
If so, has the training been useful in your work? How?
Are the staff reflective of the community you serve?
How are minority staff recruited, hired, retained?
Do clients have access to interpreters when needed?
How are supervisors’ responsive to cultural needs, traditions, values of staff?
How are staff considerate of their clients’ cultural backgrounds in working with them and in service delivery?
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes cultural competence in the past year? If so, in what ways?
And family involvement (define)? What level of emphasis does your agency put on involving families in decision making and case planning?
What messages and actions are taken in your agencies to involve families in case planning or decision making?
Probes:
Have you been trained on family involvement or family centered case practice? Please describe.
If YES, was this training useful in your supervision of caseworkers? How?
Reflecting on the cases that you have supervised, can you give some examples of how families are involved in case planning? Has this changed at all in the past year?
Are families’ voices included in decisions made about changes to child welfare policies, procedures, and protocols? How so? (e.g., Do family members provide any training to staff/others?)
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes family involvement in the past year? If so, in what ways?
How about individualized, strengths-based approaches -- What level of emphasis does your agency put on using strengths-based approaches with clients and coworkers? Which aspects of the agency reflect this principle? Which do not?
Probes:
Have you been trained on a strengths-based approach? Please describe.
If YES, was this training useful in your supervision of caseworkers? How?
- Are supervisors encouraged to work with their staff in a
strengths-based manner? If so, how?
Does the agency’s assessment form include an assessment of strengths? Please describe.
- Reflecting on cases that you have supervised, can
you give some examples of how strengths were incorporated into the case planning?
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes strengths-based approaches in the past year? If so, in what ways?
Community-based services and care (define)? What level of emphasis does the agency place on community based services?
Which aspects of the agency reflect it and which do not?
How has this impacted your work?
Probes:
Are staff informed of community resources?
Do staff consider informal services that may be more culturally appropriate and involve families’ community members (e.g., religious or cultural services and activities, assistance from friends and family)
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes community-based services in the past year? If so, in what ways?
Accountability (define)? What level of emphasis does your agency put on accountability?
Which aspects of the agency reflect it and which do not?
How has this impacted your work?
Probes:
Does the agency collect data that is useful to your work? Please describe.
What kind of data would be useful to you?
Do you use data to identify strengths and needs in your units?
Do agency administrators regularly share data with staff and elicit their input into the meaning of the findings?
How are data used to guide decisions about policies, procedures, and protocols?
Have you seen any changes in the degree to which your agency emphasizes accountability in the past year? If so, in what ways?
Are staff encouraged and rewarded for using any or all of the SOC
principles?
Are the principles specifically addressed in staff performance reviews or evaluations? If YES, how?
Finally, in thinking about these six principles, what changes would you like to see your agency make to better serve children and families? What changes would you like to see to improve the environment for staff?
That’s all of the questions I have for you – before we finish, do you have any for me?
Systems of Care Supervisor Interview Protocol
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Supervisor Interview Protocol |
| File Modified | 2008-06-20 |
| File Created | 2008-05-07 |