Supervision on the frontline

This review is an update on Botham’s (2013) review of clinical supervision in child protection but with two clear differences: the focus of this paper is primarily on safeguarding supervision and explores the views of frontline nurses only. The aim was to explore what factors contribute to effective safeguarding supervision. A systemised approach was used, collating the findings from eleven papers from January 2000 to January 2019 brought together in a thematic synthesis. This paper analysis suggests that there are factors deemed helpful and unhelpful in the safeguarding supervision process which can also be applied to the supervisory relationship. However, given some of the methodological limitations of the research reviewed one needs to be cautious in drawing conclusions from the current research. This review concludes that there is a need for more evidence in this area to see what makes safeguarding supervision effective. Furthermore, it is also important that research begins to establish whether safeguarding supervision does help in achieving better outcomes for children in keeping them safe.