The focus of this research review is to determine what factors increase the likelihood that positive individual and systemic changes occur for children and adolescents following discharge from residential treatment. Residential treatment outcome studies from 1993 to 2003 that fulfilled predetermined criteria were located through 4 on-line databases using key word combinations. The research selected was: (a) 7 studies that measured outcome immediately upon completion of treatment and discharge, and (b) 11 studies where outcome progress was assessed at one or more follow-up dates after discharge. Results showed that children and adolescents with severe emotional and behaviour disorders can benefit and sustain positive outcomes from residential treatment that is multi-modal, holistic and ecological in its approach. Similar to the clinical child psychotherapy research, conclusions must be tempered due to the limited number of studies and methodological weaknesses. Future considerations highlight how research results can more realistically reflect intervention effectiveness when elements of the ecological and systemic landscape of care are addressed. KEY WORDS: residential treatment; outcome research; children and adolescents; mental health; youth in care.In a recent review of international epidemiological research, Waddell and Shepherd (2002) report that 15% to 20% of children experience clinically identified mental health disorders that cause both significant symptoms and impairment. For 3% to 8% of the 30% of the children who seek treatment (Burns,

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In today's environment dominated by managerialism and fiscal restraint, actualizing the principle of social justice has become a daunting task for social workers. Supervision has been identified as a promising site for enacting social justice, but evidence is lacking that supervision conversations support socially just practice. A concurrent mixed model nested research design was used to explore the needs of social workers for supervision conversations about social justice and practice. A mixed method web-survey on supervision was completed by 636 social workers from a broad spectrum of social work practice settings and geographical locations in Ontario, Canada. Quantitative data and written responses from open-ended questions are presented as an integrated narrative.Findings: The results demonstrate that social worker participants shared a need for supervisors to promote and provide space for conversations about multiple aspects of social justice and practice. This need for a social justice focus had not been currently or recently experienced by a significant number of participants who worked in a variety of settings.Applications: In response to the findings and their inferences, implications for supervision knowledge, practice and policy development are provided that could help social workers better actualize social justice in their day-to-day practice.

Concerns are growing that attention to risk aversion and the use of bureaucratic approaches in human service organizations constrain social work supervision to an administrative function rather than attending to the practice needs of social workers. This article explores how long-standing concepts of positional and expert power of supervisors can be reconstructed to resist the pressures of the current sociopolitical, economic landscape. A mixed method study about postdegree supervision using a Web survey provides evidence of 636 social workers' experiences of power relations during supervision and what they say they need from supervisors to nurture a collaborative, critically reflective exchange of knowledge and decision making. The article concludes with implications for supervision practice and suggestions for future research. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE •Supervisors can effectively and respectfully use positional power with social workers to encourage the mutual sharing of ideas, and provide space for critical reflection while attending to ethical practices, clients' safety, and organizational policies and procedures.