Ethics are, of course, a fundamental part of professional practice. There are different philosophical schools of thought relating to ethics and, although there are often degrees of overlap, they are characterized more by difference than harmony. Among these philosophical schools, one school that has received relatively little attention in the professional literature (and a waning level of interest in the philosophical literature) is that of existentialism. This article outlines some of the main points of ethical theory in the works of (...) Friedrich Nietzsche, one of the founders of existentialist thought, and Jean-Paul Sartre, the best known of the existentialist thinkers, as well as other contributors to existentialist thought. Possible developments in existentialist ethical theory since the time of Sartre are also sketched out, and these are linked to contemporary social work concerns. (shrink)

This paper discusses ethical issues related to social work practice in the area of mental health. It does so via the use of a case study taken from my practice whilst I was on placement. Ethical issues are explored within a practice context that is becoming increasingly proceduralised and risk averse, and where protectionist responses contribute to undermining the rights of service users to self-determination. The paper explores the relationship between utilitarian and Kantian ethical theory and ethical decision-making as well (...) as commenting on the usefulness of an anti-oppressive ethical perspective. (shrink)

Higher education institutions in the United Kingdom are increasingly demanding that social work lecturers are ?registered? with the UK regulatory body, the General Social Care Council (GSCC) as a requirement of appointment for the post of social work lecturer. There are many compelling reasons for such an expectation but this paper argues that such action should not be undertaken uncritically. Using Colnerud's five categories of norms a number of tensions for the lecturer are explored that indicate that the current GSCC (...) codes of practice do not fully recognize the role of the social work lecturer. (shrink)

The recent and dramatic emergence of digital and other electronic technology in social work?such as online counseling, video counseling, avatar therapy, and e-mail therapy?has tested and challenged the profession's longstanding and widely accepted perspectives on the nature of both clinical relationships and core ethics concepts. These developments have transformed key elements of social work practice and require critical examination of the meaning and application of relevant ethical concepts in diverse cultures. This article explores pertinent ethical implications related to social workers' (...) commitment to clients; privacy/confidentiality; client self-determination and professional paternalism; informed consent; and professional?client boundaries and dual relationships. The author discusses the need for social workers to re-examine time-honored ethics concepts and explore their implications for the profession's ethical standards pertaining to the practitioner?client relationship. (shrink)

This paper compares and contrasts the impact and the interface of different sets of values held by social care practitioners in their decision-making process with regard to ethical dilemmas. Specifically, it explores some of the fundamental distinctions between self-directed groupworkers and other qualified social workers practising in both statutory and voluntary sectors. The methodology is qualitative and draws upon a Grounded Theory process. In contrasting the contribution of different sets of values in decision making, we found that participants, regardless of (...) their approach to work, showed an overall fit between their personal and professional values. However, when we explored the influence of participants? agencies on their decision-making processes, participants tended to prioritise organisational values, whereas for participants practising in the self-directed approach, the impact was less marked. Reflections on the role of values in increasing social workers? resistance to organisational constraints, and discussion of some implications for social work education, conclude the article. (shrink)

This paper draws on the experience of one research project in action to evaluate the usefulness of research ethics frameworks when the environment surrounding project negotiation, data collection and dissemination is seriously disturbed by critical incidents. The paper questions the lack of emphasis in research ethics codes on the competence and capacity of agencies when commissioning and sponsoring research. Using events that surrounded one project, the paper researches the research. It explores what impacted on the creation of the context for (...) ethical and effective research and how the researchers responded to the ethical challenges that emerged. Different theoretical understandings and ethical models are drawn upon to explore how a research team translated ethical research in theory into ethical research in practice within an organization in turmoil. (shrink)

The following account provides reflective analysis of an ongoing rationalization operation that entails the eventual closure of my placement agency. This politically motivated undertaking demonstrates some of the inequities that exist within the complex and ‘ ... evolving relationship between the state and theindividual’, which forms the principal domain of social work practice (Howe 1996, p. 77). The closure of this service carried consequences not only for the agency’s personnel and service users but also for the service users’ immediate social (...) systems and the wider community. My involvement in this matter, which was analogous to Schon’s ‘swampy lowlands’ of problematic social work activity, required me to introspect and deliberate rigorously as I strived to address practice implications, social injustice, difficult value judgements, conflicts of professional and organizational interests and dilemmas concerning personal ethics and official directives (Schon 1983, p. 42). Written from a perspective that is both humanistic and pragmatic, this account avoids reference to religious belief systems and prescriptive models of reflection in favour of a flexible format, compatible with this rapidly unfolding, highly emotive situation. The names and other identifying features of all service users, staff, establishments, services and agencies have been changed. (shrink)

This article reports on exploratory research into social workers? perceptions and actions regarding ?forewarning? clients of their child abuse reporting obligations as a limitation of confidentiality at relationship onset. Ethical principles and previous research on forewarning are discussed prior to stating the research methods and presenting findings. Data obtained from South Australian social workers engaged in human service work with adult family members articulate a strong desire to practise in accordance with professional codes of ethics. However, the findings suggest that (...) proactive forewarning is extremely infrequent, with minimized forewarning accomplished only in response to client-initiated inquiry and where prior suspicions of child abuse may exist. Generally, discomfort with forewarning was found to result in its avoidance due to concerns about client retention, working in tense relationships and personal uncertainties about client's reactions towards participants. Through the avoidance of forewarning, participants are potentially supporting their own personal feelings and viewpoints more actively than the rights of others. This may correlate with having a private model of professionalism in opposition to a public model, in which relationship parameters are presented honestly and openly to clients when establishing the practice context?a problematic issue for ethical social work. (shrink)

Current approaches to professional ethics emphasise the importance of upholding the ethical duties of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice in practice. All are prima facie duties, meaning that they must be respected on their own and, if the duties conflict, it is assumed that the dilemma can be resolved through rational decision making. There are, however, a number of limitations to this approach to professional ethics. This paper explores these limitations through an empirical study that examined the ethical dilemmas facing (...) 24 professionals in their work with older people who were self-neglecting or living in squalor in Sydney, Australia. The research uncovered that two groups of professionals interpreted autonomy in different ways. Furthermore, when faced with difficult ethical dilemmas, participants agreed that the most satisfactory responses involved strategies that closely mirrored elements of alternative approaches to ethics, particularly the ethics of care and virtue ethics. The findings point to the relevance of a pluralistic approach to ethics in professional practice. (shrink)

Ethical decision making is a core part of the work of social work and human service practitioners, who confront with regularity dilemmas of duty of care; confidentiality, privacy and disclosure; choice and autonomy; and distribution of increasingly scarce resources. This article details the development and application of the Inclusive Model of Ethical Decision Making, created in response to growing awareness of the complexities of work in both public and private sectors. The model rests on four key platforms that are constructed (...) from important foundational values and principles. These platforms are: Accountability, Consultation, Cultural Sensitivity and Critical Reflection, and underlie the dynamic five-step process that uses a reflective yet pragmatic approach to identify and analyze all relevant aspects of an ethical dilemma. The article begins by exploring the anatomy of an ethical dilemma, including the identification of competing ethical principles. It then moves on to highlight the different points in a decision-making process where difficulties typically arise for practitioners who may confront problems of interpretation of ethical codes, lack of access to needed resources and supports, or who may find themselves bound by legal or organizational restrictions. It is argued that this model has useful application for both social work education and practice. (shrink)

Phronesis has become a buzzword in contemporary medical ethics. Yet, the use of this single term conceals a number of significant conceptual controversies based on divergent philosophical assumptions. This paper explores three of them: on phronesis as universalist or relativist, generalist or particularist, and natural/painless or painful/ambivalent. It also reveals tensions between Alasdair MacIntyre’s take on phronesis, typically drawn upon in professional ethics discourses, and Aristotle’s original concept. The paper offers these four binaries as a possible analytical framework for classifying (...) and evaluating accounts of phronesis in the medical ethics literature. It argues that to make sense of phronesis as a putative ideal in professional medical ethics—for example, with the further aim of crafting interventions to cultivate phronesis in medical ethics education—the preliminary question of which conception of phronesis is most serviceable for the aim in question needs to be answered. The paper identifies considerable lack of clarity in the current discursive field on phronesis and suggests how that shortcoming can be ameliorated. (shrink)

This paper looks at the possibilities of using biographical research in social work focusing on the elderly. Social work with the elderly uses or should use biographical data to create individual plans for clients or for the purpose of sensory activation. Narrative interviews are a form of interaction between a senior client and a social worker. The social worker supports the senior’s narrative so they can view their life for themselves and explain its meaning from their own perspective. The use (...) of sensory activation in social work is only possible when the individual’s identity is supported by a sufficient amount of environmental stimuli, which can be achieved only by acquiring and analyzing data on the life events of the individual. The paper contains examples of the use of biographical data in social work with the elderly, which is essential for further structuring their lives. (shrink)

The debate on the ethics of involuntary treatment for Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is dominated by biomedical ethics approaches to the issues. In keeping with the biomedical ethics emphasis on objectively balancing ethical principles, the debate centres on how to respect the autonomy of persons with AN who refuse treatment whilst protecting these persons from harm. Commentators discuss this at a normative ethics level. Thus, the debate does not address the moral relevance of how knowledge is constructed in the practice environment (...) and the impact this has on how professional values are applied during treatment decision making. Social work ethics highlights the need for professionals to account for the authority of professional knowledge and for patients to participate in treatment decisions. However, in the practice environment, questioning medical hegemony and supporting patient participation, empowerment and self-determination (core social work values) is complicated by a lack of treatment efficacy, the high level of risk that patients present to themselves and uncertainty around the autonomy and competence of the patient to refuse treatment. This paper argues that postmodern ethics can support practitioners in managing these issues. In doing so, this paper makes a social work contribution to the debate. (shrink)

This article describes the results of qualitative research into the moral issues faced by social work professionals working in projects targeted at teenage mothers. The research is part of the tradition of empirical and practice-driven ethics. The main questions were: How does morality become visible in the social services for teenage mothers and how do social workers deal with the moral dimension of their work? (How) can education, training and peer review offer space for moral reflection? Interviews and group meetings (...) ('focus groups') were held to answer these questions. Nineteen professionals (front-line professionals as well as professionals in executive roles) participated in the research. The findings describe the moral issues and the moral actions of professionals and the organizational context respectively. The results reveal that the everyday practice of social work professionals can raise complex issues inherent to their work and that there is often no explicit reflection on the moral dimension of these issues. The authors argue that there needs to be greater focus on the complexity of moral issues and elaborate on three dimensions of this complexity. (shrink)

This paper studies the construction of ethics in interactions between professionals in meetings, in relation to the rationing of resources. The research context is a supported housing unit targeted at clients with mental health and substance abuse problems. The service is provided for a municipality, which expects good progress of the clients. The research question is: how do the professionals produce implicit ethical justifications for setting limits to helping, even though the need for professional help is not called into question? (...) Five types of justification appear in the data covering 28 meetings. However, these types of justification do not solve the central ethical difficulty arising in the conversations. Limiting help would easily push people out of reach of all help. Thus, in spite of the talk about ethical justification, workers do not ultimately resort to limiting help in situations with no real alternatives for getting help. The ethical principle of following non-exclusionary practices is highly prioritized. (shrink)

International statements about social work ethics have been criticized as imposing Western values in non-Western contexts. Two forms of this criticism can be identified in recent literature, one ?strong? in that it calls for each cultural context to generate its own relevant values, the other ?qualified? in that while it seeks basic common values it calls for these to be interpreted with cultural sensitivity. Such arguments raise a particular problem with the notion of human rights as a foundation for social (...) work ethics. In response, the plurality of values is examined and the concept of ?human capabilities? is suggested as a basis for values that cross cultural differences. The implications of this notion are explored using the example of responses to domestic violence. It is suggested that such an approach could be fruitful as a basis for future international dialogue concerning social work ethics. (shrink)

This paper critically reflects on a social work student placement experience at an Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) service. It utilises ethical concepts to analyse the goals and working methods of the medical-dominated service alongside the professional and personal values taken to the role. Discussion focuses on the organisation's assessment process and use of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), concluding that the utilitarian and managerialist principles embodied in their procedure conflict with anti-oppressive social work ethics. Particular attention is given to (...) the role and power of a student including personal reflection on the social work methods used and how practice would be changed in the future. (shrink)

In this paper we suggest an alternative approach to ethics in social work: virtue ethics. We argue that Habermas's theory of communicative action and discourse ethics needs to be supplemented with virtue ethics to provide an account useful to social work. In these times, sensitivity to others is needed for social work to succeed as a profession interested in combating the complacency, self-interest and lack of compassion evident in cutbacks to social welfare programmes and the resultant concerns with outcomes and (...) efficiencies that have all but obliterated care and compassion. We see in Habermas a furthering of Aristotelian and Thomist philosophy, most importantly with respect to his focus on emancipatory knowing?the critically reflective knower who knows self as the person doing the knowing. Habermas's distinction between values (objective), ethics (social) and morals (subjective) makes the province of emancipatory knowing (his epistemological theory) consistent with his moral theory?morality is personal. (shrink)

Based on individual and focus-group interviews, this article describes how social workers in a variety of settings and geographical areas within Ontario approached ethical issues in their daily practices. Two primary approaches to professional ethics emerge from the data: principle based and virtue based, reflecting the orientation of groups we label believers and skeptics, respectively. The code of ethics appears to be the fulcrum from which our participants swing. The believers show faith in the code of ethics and the skeptics (...) are dubious that codes are necessarily in the best interests of clients. The article describes the thinking behind the actions of the believers and skeptics and explores possibilities for future practice and research with respect to decision-making regarding ethical issues in the social work profession. (shrink)

At profesjonsutøvere er ansvarlige og har ansvar knyttet til arbeidet de utfører, tar vi nærmest for gitt. Mitt sikte med denne artikkelen er å gi et innspill til nærere drøfting av hvordan det profesjonelle ansvaret kan forstås. I nyere profesjonsetiske kodekser knyttes ansvar først og fremst til konsekvenser av handlinger. Det innebærer at den profesjonelles ansvar forutsetter at det kan trekkes en linje fra en handlings konsekvens til den handlende. I komplekse organisasjoner kan imidlertid rekonstruksjon av veien fra konsekvens av (...) handling tilbake til den handlende vise seg vanskelig. Alternativt kan ansvar knyttes til spørsmål om handlingens samsvar med regler og prosedyrer. En slik tilnærming benevnes gjerne som «accountability». Disse to ulike tilnærmingene til ansvar har det til felles at det er handlingen som er i fokus – handlingens regelsamsvar eller dens konsekvenser, ikke en individuell dimensjon knyttet til den handlende som person. Den profesjonelle som selvstendig, tenkende og vurderende person blir perifer. Til videre drøfting av dette trekker jeg veksler på Hannah Arendts tenkning om ansvar. «To-i-én-dialog» og «tenkning» er sentrale elementer, og jeg vil peke på hennes bidrag som en mulig vei til en utdypet forståelse av det profesjonelle ansvarets individuelle dimensjon.Nøkkelord: profesjonelt ansvar, handlingens konsekvenser, accountability, to-i-én-dialog, tenkningEnglish summary: Individual responsibility and shallowness in professional workIt is almost taken for granted that professionals are responsible for the work they do. The scope of this article is to contribute to an evaluation of how we can understand this professional responsibility. Modern professional–ethical codes tie responsibility primarily to the consequences of acts. Thus the responsibility of a professional assumes that a connection can be drawn between the consequences of an act to the person who acted. However, in complex organizational structures, it can be difficult to find the path from consequence to actor. Another option is to look at responsibility as the product of an action's compliance with rules and procedures. Such an approach is often called «accountability». What these two different approaches to responsibility have in common is the focus on an action. It is the consequences of acts or compliance of rules that matter rather than the individual who performs the act. The idea of a professional as an autonomous, thinking and evaluating person becomes peripheral. The individual dimension of responsibility involves that the professional's responsibility goes beyond adherence to rules and procedures and what follows from tracking acts and consequences. I use Hannah Arendt's thoughts on the responsibility to facilitate further debate on this topic. A «two-in-one» dialogue and «thinking» are core elements in this, and I will point to her contribution as a possible path to a more in-depth understanding of the individual dimension of professional responsibility. (shrink)

Teaching on social work values is centrally important in social work education as a core aspect of underpinning knowledge in preparing students for practice. This paper describes an innovative project occurring within the first year of the degree in social work, where service users and carers have assisted students with their understanding of social work values. The positive contribution of service users and carers in facilitating students to make links between theory and practice is now well documented. Applying this user (...) perspective to the educational domain of values, however, is relatively uncharted territory given the challenges that have traditionally accompanied the teaching of values. Importantly, this paper describes the ?value talk? which occurred when first-year students sought further meaning from service-user and carer groups in their community settings following classroom teaching on values. The paper not only discusses the detailed preparations involved in the project but also the learning which resulted, drawing on the evaluation findings from the students and participating groups. Whilst the findings show that the students' understanding of social work values has been most significantly influenced by the contributions from service users and carers, it is recognized that further research is needed to monitor the longer term impact on social work students' practice after they qualify. (shrink)

Taking organisational responses to the ?organ retention scandals? in the United Kingdom and Australia as a starting point, this paper considers the role of social welfare workers within the medico-legal system. Official responses to the inquiries of the late 1990s have focused on issues of consent and process-transparency, leaving unaddressed concerns expressed by the bereaved about the impact of organ retention on both their experience of grief and on the deceased themselves. A review of grief and embodiment literature suggests that (...) such concerns are consistent with the significance of relationship, attachment and identity within grief resolution?however that last problematic term is defined. The case example of an Australian coronial jurisdiction which has attempted to deal with some of these issues through mandating the discussion of autopsy and organ retention processes by grief counsellors with bereaved families is then provided. A distinction is drawn between these discussions and the seeking of consent. The discussion concludes by considering the ambiguous nature of the social welfare role within this contested field, suggesting that this ambiguity, while perhaps a source of flexibility in practice, may itself relate to a lack of clear information about the needs of the bereaved. This paper contributes to the development of that knowledge and offers some necessarily tentative recommendations regarding social welfare practice in this challenging arena. (shrink)

The publication of the Bradley review in the United Kingdom is a watershed in the development of policy regarding the way that the Criminal Justice System responds to individuals with mental health problems. It then goes on to explore one aspect of that response: the role of the Appropriate Adult under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act (1984).

This paper seeks to analyse the contribution of a human rights perspective to emancipatory social work. Human rights practice builds on long-standing values and theoretical frameworks related to emancipatory, radical and structural social work and anti-oppressive practice. However, historical tensions within social work, notably in the United Kingdom, continue in contemporary forms, magnified by the global impact of neo-liberalism. The paper considers connections between human rights and other frameworks, including professional codes; ethical critiques drawing on feminist and indigenous perspectives; the (...) articulation of human rights with social justice; and the strength of a rights-based approach demonstrated by community campaigns and service-user movements. It also addresses discontinuities between human rights and trends in social work and the wider context, including managerialism, privatization, and the consumerization of rights; unexamined rhetoric and limited regulatory interpretations; the dangers of rights being interpreted and imposed from dominant and/or Western perspectives; and the complexities of universal versus culturally specific rights claims. Drawing on the struggles of oppressed groups, the paper argues that a more critical and informed focus on human rights can be a further potentially powerful tool contributing to resistance to oppression, collective solidarity and the promotion of emancipatory change. (shrink)

Case study: while on placement at a mental health day centre I was assigned to act as key-worker to Mr X, a working-class white man in his early 40s who has been diagnosed with several psychiatric disorders. Mr X also experiences poor physical health. Mr X has been diagnosed as ?having? obsessive compulsive disorder, major depressive disorder, anger management disorder, Tourette's syndrome and paranoia. He has also been diagnosed with fibromyalgia. For all these, he daily takes a powerful cocktail of (...) anti-depressants, mood-stabilizers, anti-psychotics and pain killers. From his file I noted that he had been discharged from the local community psychiatric team, so he no longer had regular and unproblematic access to either a psychiatrist or social worker. He had been receiving anger management therapy (AMT), but his attendance had been sporadic. Mr X had, he claimed, no real friends, or, as he put it, ?just mere acquaintances?. Mr X lives alone with his mother. Mr X was a new member at the day centre but had had a long career as a mental health service user (owing to his angry behaviours he had been ?asked to leave? his previous day centre). The stated and overt purpose of our relationship was to collaborate towards ameliorating his situation. This work more commonly consisted of offering emotional and practical support, but, when first assigned Mr X, I was told by my practice assessor that eventually I would be required to carry out a risk assessment of him. So, for the purposes of this essay, I will focus on the ethical problems and dilemmas I encountered in the progression leading towards, and the actual process of carrying out, an assessment of the supposed risk that Mr X may pose either to himself, others or both. (shrink)

This article discusses the nature of interprofessional ethics and some of the ethical issues and challenges that arise when practitioners from different professions work closely together in the fields of health and social care. The article draws on materials from a conference on this theme, covering issues of confidentiality and information sharing in practice and research with vulnerable people; challenges for teaching and learning about ethics in interprofessional settings; the potential of virtue ethics and an ethic of care for understanding (...) and handling ethical issues in interprofessional practice; and the extent to which interprofessional working may be about surveillance and control. It concludes that the need to understand and handle ethical issues in interprofessional working is contributing to the revitalisation of professional ethics as a dynamic field of study. (shrink)

This article is based on a philosophical analysis of moral language in academic journal articles that concern child death cases. The analysis shows that research of child protection is a value-committed practice, and the language use reflects this in various ways. Direct moral language is relatively rare, and moral values are often implicitly referred to. Values in social work research bear resemblance to moral philosophical stances.

Evaluation reports, along with development studies literature suggest that development practice is often failing to enact espoused participatory, empowering and gender equitable approaches or to achieve these espoused goals. Mainstream development theories are underpinned by values and beliefs about what is good and what "ought to be". In this study I explore the influence of values on the development practice of Cambodian practitioners working in non-government organisations in rural Cambodia. Development practitioners are the major conduit of community based development assistance, (...) but little is known about how their values impact their day-to-day practice, and influence their moral and political choices. In the study I used ethnographic methodology, guided by feminist principles. The research was conducted with individuals and groups of experienced, mostly Cambodian development practitioners. Data were collected in four phases through in-depth and semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions and observations of practice. I examine the (in)congruity between practitioners' espoused theories and values and those demonstrated by their practice. The findings reveal that the values are not essentially different but are prioritized differently. The espoused values are consistent with those of the international development discourse, all of which are premised on a belief in human equality. Theories and values inferred from actual practice reflect hierarchical underpinnings. In the Cambodian context this is consistent with socio-cultural values and the hierarchical order of society. However, as expatriate research participants and the literature attest, this incongruence is not particular to Cambodian practitioners. The study reveals practitioners give higher priority to fulfilling the tasks necessary for the achievement of their NGOs' planned outputs and organisational imperatives than to the facilitation of participatory and empowering processes. At the same time, the enactment of some development values is in tension with certain socio-cultural norms and practices. Practitioners are challenged to make desirable development values explicit and identify how to operationalise them in the lived social, cultural, political and economic context. (shrink)

This article sets out the results of a research study into how social educators deal with the conflicts of values they experience in their professional practice. We begin by describing the main characteristics of the social educator's activity, and go on to present the data, of note among which is the fact that value conflicts or dilemmas arising in professional practice tend to be addressed as if they were a private matter. Finally, we propose a number of alternative approaches by (...) means of which this process of conflict resolution could be undertaken more openly with a view to ensuring greater well-being for professional staff and fairer decision-making for clients. (shrink)