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Supervision matters: it serves educational, supportive and management functions. Despite a plethora of evidence on the effectiveness of supervision, scant evidence for the impact of supervision training exists. While three previous literature reviews have begun to examine the effectiveness of supervision training, they fail to explore the extent to which supervision training works, for whom, and why. We adopted a realist approach to answer the question: to what extent do supervision training interventions work (or not), for whom and in what circumstances, and why? We conducted a team-based realist synthesis of the supervision training literature focusing on Pawson's five stages: (1) clarifying the scope; (2) determining the search strategy; (3) study selection; (4) data extraction; and (5) data synthesis. We extracted contexts (C), mechanisms (M) and outcomes (O) and CMO configurations from 29 outputs including short (n = 19) and extended-duration (n = 10) supervision training interventions. Irrespective of duration, interventions including mixed pedagogies involving active and/or experiential learning, social learning and protected time served as mechanisms triggering multiple positive supervisor outcomes. Short-duration interventions also led to positive outcomes through mechanisms such as supervisor characteristics, whereas facilitator characteristics was a key mechanism triggering positive and negative outcomes for extended-duration interventions. Disciplinary and organisational contexts were not especially influential. While our realist synthesis builds on previous non-realist literature reviews, our findings extend previous work considerably. Our realist synthesis presents a broader array of outcomes and mechanisms than have been previously identified, and provides novel insights into the causal pathways in which short and extended-duration supervision training interventions produce their effects. Future realist evaluation should explore further any differences between short and extended-duration interventions. Educators are encouraged to prioritize mixed pedagogies, social learning and protected time to maximize the positive supervisor outcomes from training.

Introduction: Children in families affected by substance use disorders are at high risk of being placed in out‐of‐home care (OOHC). We aimed to describe the characteristics of parents who inject drugs and identify correlates associated with child placement in OOHC. Method s : We used baseline data from a community‐based cohort of parents who inject drugs (SuperMIX) from Melbourne, Australia. Participants were recruited via convenience, respondent‐driven and snowball sampling from April 2008 to November 2020, with follow‐up until March 2021. To explore correlates associated with child placement to OOHC, we used multivariable logistic regression and assessed for potential interactions between gender and a range of relevant covariates. Results: Of the 1067 participants, 611 (57%) reported being parents. Fifty‐six percent of parents reported child protection involvement. Almost half (49%) had children in OOHC. Nearly half of the parents lived in unstable accommodation (44%) and many of them experienced moderate–severe levels of anxiety (48%) and depression (53%). Female or non‐binary gender, identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, experiencing assault and having more children were associated with child removal to OOHC. Of the 563 participants who reported their own childhood care status, 135 (24%) reported they had been removed to OOHC. Discussion and Conclusions: We identified high rates of child placement in OOHC among parents who inject drugs. There is a need for targeted health and social services, that are gender and culturally responsive, in addition to systems‐level interventions addressing social inequities, such as housing, to support parents to care for their children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID‐19 pandemic triggered widespread socioeconomic hardship, disproportionately impacting disadvantaged populations. People who use illicit drugs are more likely to experience unemployment, homelessness, criminal justice involvement and poorer health outcomes than the general community, yet little is known about the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic on their lives. To address this gap in the literature, we conducted in‐depth interviews with 76 participants from two cohort studies of people who use illicit drugs (people who inject drugs and/or use methamphetamine) in Victoria, Australia. Findings support claims that pandemic‐related Social Security supplementary payments and initiatives to reduce homelessness, although not systemically transforming people's lives, produced temporary relief from chronic socioeconomic hardship. Results also indicate how temporary interruptions to drug supply chains inflated illicit drug prices and produced adverse consequences such as financial and emotional stress, which was exacerbated by drug withdrawal symptoms for many participants. Furthermore, increased community demand for emergency food and housing support during the pandemic appeared to reduce participants' access to these services. Our findings about the unintended consequences of pandemic responses on the socioeconomic lives of a group of people who use illicit drugs provide insights into and opportunities for policy reform to redress their entrenched disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many parents support the "supervised introduction" of alcohol to children. While initiation to regular alcohol consumption in early adolescence has been linked with alcohol-related problems in adult life, the findings from these studies cannot be extrapolated to early childhood. The definition of initiation to alcohol in early childhood is often not reliable and there is a dearth of research regarding the impact of the broader social and cultural context where initiation may occur. Whilst parents need to be supported to make decisions that are informed by "evidence", policymakers need to be mindful of the role of ideology in policy development and the potential differences in risk factors for "initiation" to alcohol and the "misuse" of alcohol.