Purpose: Supervision is an essential part of social work education. Accordingly, supervision satisfaction plays an important role in the development of the students’ professional identity. However, the factors contributing to supervision satisfaction among social work students have rarely been examined. This study examined the contribution of supervision components, peer support, secondary traumatization, and vicarious post-traumatic growth (VPTG) to supervision satisfaction. Method: Self-report questionnaires were distributed to 259 undergraduate social work students. Correlation and hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed. Results: Higher supervision satisfaction was predicted by the educational and supportive components of supervision, peer support, and VPTG, whereas the administrative component of supervision satisfaction and secondary traumatization predicted lower supervision satisfaction. Discussion: The findings highlight the negative ramifications of secondary traumatization and the positive contribution that supportive and educational supervision, peer support, and VPTG can have on social work students’ supervision satisfaction. Practical implications for practice and policy are discussed.

This study examined the rate of secondary traumatic stress (STS) among social work students and the contribution of background variables, personal resources (mastery and self-differentiation) and environmental resources (supervision satisfaction and peer support) to STS. The sample consisted of 259 social work students at three social work schools in Israel. The findings indicated that the mean level of STS was mild. Of the students, 36 per cent suffered STS to a mild extent, 19 per cent to a moderate extent and 18 per cent reported a ‘high to extreme extent’. A significant contribution was made by the student’s year of study, students in their second year of social work school suffered more severely from STS than did students in their first or third years. A positive contribution was made by the student’s level of exposure and a unique contribution was made by mastery and supervision satisfaction to the explained variance of STS. The findings highlight the importance of raising awareness of STS and its implications for social work students, as well as the necessity of helping students cope with this phenomenon. In addition, the study emphasises the significant role of supervisors in the training agencies and the importance of increasing students’ sense of mastery.