The Master’s thesis discusses supervision as an aid in dealing with stress and professional burnout and as a method that enables professional and personal development of professionals, who work in the field of education of vulnerable adult groups.
In the theoretical backgrounds, we focus on different definitions of supervision and find that in the broadest sense it means a systematic reflexion on professional conduct and experience, and the work topics are transformed in learning topics, where the professional experience is the basis for learning of professionals. We also describe the functions of supervision and goals arising from them. In addition to the types and models of supervision, we state the conditions for successful supervision. A special chapter is devoted to Kolb’s experiential learning theory, which represents the broadest frame of supervision, and to reflexion as the basic methodical element in supervision. In the second part of theoretical backgrounds, we define the concepts of stress and professional burnout, state their causes and consequences and particularly focus on stress and professional burnout in aid professions. The final part of theoretical backgrounds starts with the education of vulnerable adult groups and concludes with a description of the role of supervision in personal and professional development of professionals and in facing with stress and professional burnout.
In the empirical part, we present the results of the research we have carried out with the help of survey questionnaires and two semi-structured interviews among professionals, who work in the field of education of vulnerable adult groups. The research findings show that professionals are very familiar with supervision, and a little over half of professionals, included into the sample, use it also in their work. Just under a quarter of the participating professionals regularly uses supervision in their work. Because they recognize stress as a constant in their work, they assess supervision as one of the fundamental forms of aid in dealing with stress and professional burnout, in addition to consultations with co-workers. In addition to other goals, they are reaching, professionals, who are using supervision, emphasize the importance of experiential learning and personal and professional development. Professionals, who are using supervision, assess that their work has more quality, that they have more professional autonomy and that they are able to overcome hurdles, brought about by their workday.
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