Supervising in gaps. Articulating and enhancing knowledge in the emerging specialist field of health social work

This article analyses health social workers’ experiences of supervising students on field studies, during a new master’s program that the supervisors have not taken part in themselves. The material consists of three focus groups with supervisors and the material has been thematically analysed. Attention is directed to how the supervising situation exposes gaps between the health social workers and the universities and between theory, research and practice. The analysis highlights how these gaps are difficult to manoeuvre, in the multidisciplinary context characterised by epistemic hierarchies. The article concludes that supervision, though challenging, can encourage a mutual exchange of knowledge, facilitating the growth of a collective professional identity. For these endeavours to span beyond individuals, and to benefit patients, require continuing efforts from academia as well as health social workers and their organisations, strengthening the development of a knowledge base anchored in social work and developed specifically for healthcare settings.