The National Association of Social Workers (NASW, 2009) Code of Ethics is a guide to social workers’ practice by offering standards, values, and principles. The Code of Ethics is useful in facilitating the social workers’ decision-making process when he is presented with complicate ethical issues. Ethical issues arise with conflicting values, principles, and standards. These conflicts may occur between the social worker and his clients, agency, or institutional policy, other social workers, professional in other disciplines, or the social worker’s personal values.
As social workers, speaking on social welfare policy standpoint, social workers do everything from the federal level to the state level insuring and overseeing the administration of social programs.
The article “Ethics and Value Dilemmas in Social Work” is written by Suncica Dimitrijevska and Vladimir Ilievski, published by Polirom & Universitatea Bucureşti - Dept. de Sociologie is Asistenţă Socialăby 2016.The article talks about the ethics which a social worker needs to follow and the dilemmas which they face while they deal with the different cases in their day to day life. A social worker 's decision never gets influenced by the clients age, culture, psyche or psychological abilities. This article discusses about various topics like, ‘ethical dilemmas during client support, values and knowledge in social work, values dilemmas of the clients encountered by the social workers, areas of ethical dilemmas facing social work and steps for solving the ethical dilemmas’(Dimitrijoska, Ilievski- 2016, p.49).
The second ethical dilemma is that social work practitioners and their clients have different personal values. Despite social workers best efforts to keep their feelings in check and to respect differences, being confronted with situations in which their
On April 16, 2007, America experienced its deadliest shooting by a single gunman. Seung-Hui Cho, a senior at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, shot and killed 32 people and then turned the gun on himself (CNN). Cho had a history of mental health problems. Mental illnesses are defined as “diseases that causes mild to severe disturbances in thought and/or behavior, resulting in an inability to cope with life’s ordinary demands and routines” (Mental). Common mental health disorders include bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, depression, and dementia. Some signs and warnings that show that one might have a mental illness are: social withdrawal, suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety, and trouble concentrating. Sadly, Cho
All human service workers have their own particular inward esteem framework and set of ethics. Conflicts occur within the helping field on an external and internal level. Everybody who works in a human service field, or who manages other individuals in an expert or paraprofessional limit is liable to a code of morals. There are various formal moral codes normally set around expert associations, however now and again by law that apply to individuals’ specifically professional positions. This paper attempts to address issues of consent, conflict of interest, unethical behavior and confidentiality on an internal and external level. Internal problems can affect the quality of help given to clients. Mediation as a strengthening tool in conflict
From time to time, social work practitioners face different challenges and one of such example is being confronted with ethical dilemmas. An ethical dilemma is defined as “when the social worker sees himself or herself as facing a choice between two equally unwelcoming alternatives, which may involve a conflict of moral values, and it is not clear which choice will be the right one” (Banks, 2012). Ethical dilemmas can occur in the context of either client or organisational-related conflict situations at work.
In the social work profession, it is a requirement to have a thorough understanding of ethics and some of the ethical dilemmas that one can face. On my journey as a social work student one of my assignments was specific to ethical dilemmas. The ethical dilemma that I chose to write in this paper about was multiple relationships and violating counselor client boundaries. The class that I wrote this in was HMS 102 which was values of human services. The main topic of the paper focused on the negative effects of sexual relationships. It also discussed crossing boundaries with clients and having other relationships such as friendships or other kinds of attachments to the client. In my field placement at Hardin Memorial Hospital social workers may have to be carful not to cross boundaries with clients especially in such a small town in which you may possibly know or know of a client.
The values and ideologies that are most important to my future practice include respect for the inherent dignity and worth of persons, service to humanity and competence in professional practice. First, my value of providing respect for the inherent dignity and worth of persons is important to me and my future practice because it allows me to see the uniqueness in all my clients and subsequent cases. Moreover, it further guides me to allow my clients to be self-determined individuals. Correspondingly, it will guide me to provide my clients with the ability to make informed consent. Additionally, this value is important to my future practice because it ensures that I become an advocate for my clients in every capacity, including human rights. Lastly, as a social worker, I will ensure that I work towards my clients being free from violence and the threat of violence (Heinonen & Spearman, 2010, p. 34).
Technology has become an essential part of our everyday life therefore, it makes sense that doctors and hospitals get rid of the old fashioned paper charting and use technology to access patient records. Electronic health records (EHR) provide quick access to information, as doctors no longer have to wait for other providers to fax previous records to them. The accessibility of Electronic Health Records assist medical providers to make quick medical care decisions, by accessing previous care provided to patients including treatment and diagnosis. Quick access to information through EHR enables health care providers to treat patients faster as there is no need for records to be mailed or
Rape is unwanted sexual activities that are forced upon another person. This has to be an act upon an un-consenting individual. With recent reforms in the law sexual assault is now a broad umbrella with many acts being considered assault such as phone calls, marital rape, and stranger rape. One in six American women have been raped or a victim of attempted rape (Cleveland Rape Crisis Center). Many studies have been done to evaluate the reasons and trend behind assault to help the victim and to prevent the rise of assault that occurs. These acts can range from being non-violent acts to violent acts (Postmus, 2008). With these recent reforms in the law it has created a blurred line between rape and assault.
Principle of fidelity states how psychologist establish trust with whom they work with in accordance to the American Psychological Association (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code Conduct. This principle concern with the trust relationship between the client and counsellor. Being honorable is seen as the basic to understanding and resolving ethical issues. The benefits of the client are first in place before those counsellors even if such fidelity is uncomfortable for them. Furthermore, they should also make every effort to make sure that clients’ expectations have reasonable prospects of being met. They have to contemplate confidentiality as an duty arising from the client’s trust.
After completing the value inventory for policy advocacy survey, the results indicated that I agreed with the social work profession 92 percent on the statements presented. For example, the social work profession and me holds the same view regarding transgender and gender non-conforming individuals using restrooms based on their gender identity, congress adapting a minimum wage based on the cost of living, federal funding supporting research in stem cell usage to prevent disease, supporting paid time off for new parents, early childhood education being universally available, funding domestic violence program for both the perpetrator and the victim and promoting syringe exchange programs to stop the spread of HIV and so on. The
Nowadays, it is not easy to describe professional work and never talk about ethical principles and values that guide it (Guttmann, 2006). Social work because it is a profession it has its own principles and values that guide its ethical conduct. In addition, Guttmann (2006) argues that the knowledge and skills we have acquired as social workers cannot guarantee an ethical conduct in practice alone. Ethical conduct is an important aspect of social work practice. It involves following and respecting the rules or standards for right conduct, especially the standards of a profession. A professional social worker who has a good ethical conduct must act in ways consistent with what the profession, society and individuals typically think are good values. Ethical behaviour in social work tends to involve demonstrating respect for key principles that the profession upholds. This paper seeks to critically discuss the importance of ethical conduct in professional social work practice. In doing so, I will explain the philosophical principles that guide ethical conduct in social work. Examples will be used to illustrate this.