Ethics & Values PDF

Lecturer: Sandra Latibeaudiere Overview & framework Braye & Preston-Shoot (1997) contends that “…collaboration between law and social services will not be realised without a discussion of values, power, objectives, expertise, knowledge and structures.” Sect...

Lecturer: Sandra Latibeaudiere Overview & framework Braye & Preston-Shoot (1997) contends that “…collaboration between law and social services will not be realised without a discussion of values, power, objectives, expertise, knowledge and structures.” Sections to be covered Justice Morality Ethics Morals Morality: a sense of behavioural conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions and actions between those that are good (right) or bad (wrong). Morals Religion provides people with a reason to be moral Morals: are individual and personal beliefs about what is right and wrong (Lewicki: Essentials of Negotiations, n.d.) Morals Morals are beliefs and values which are shared by a society, or a section of society; they tell those who share them what is right or wrong. In our society, moral values are heavily influenced by the dominant religion ie Christianity, though this is not the only source of moral values. (Elliott & Quinn in English Legal Systems) Beliefs Beliefs are specific statements that people hold to be true. Law & Morals Both law and morals are normative; they specify what ought to be done and aim to mark the boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable conduct. Moral conducts are not backed by sanctions which make some legal laws enforceable, they are often reinforced by pressures which, in some cases, are stronger – disapproval of family, loss of status, shunned by community Ethics & Values Values: Pincus & Minahan quoted in Zastrow said that “Values are beliefs, preferences or assumptions about what is desirable or good for man. Values are not assertions about how the world is and what we know about it but HOW it should be.” Ethics: the standards of conduct that indicate how people OUGHT to behave based upon values and principles about what is right. (Hardina, 2004) Ethics Ethics is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the rules, guidelines and principles that underpin the decisions that people make in any given aspect of their lives. Ethics Ethics therefore embodies concerns with the determination of what is right and what is wrong. Conduct which is deemed to be right by any given set of ethical rules is often said to be moral (or of a high moral/ethical standard) Ethics In contrast wrong behavior is said to be immoral (or unethical) (Noel Cowel et al Ethical Perspectives for Caribbean Business 2007) Ethics Ethics is about knowing. The ethical person knows what is right Morals are about doing. The moral person does what is right Factors Influencing the Development of Personal ethics 1) Family Influences 2) Religious Beliefs 3) Cultural 4) Personal Experiences 5) Internal Reflections Social work ethics What is A code of ethics? A code of ethics is a guide of principles designed to help professionals conduct business honestly and with integrity. A code of ethics document may outline the mission and values of the business or organization, how professionals are supposed to approach problems, the ethical principles based on the organization's core values and the standards to which the professional is held. - Investopedia  Why have a Code of Ethics? The purpose of Social Work Values is to provide a common set of principles, which social workers can use and develop to work ethically with service users. Working from a professional value base has a number of benefits. For Example: They CAN be guides to professional behaviour They Can maintain a professional Identity They Can Protect service users from malpractice Why have a code of ethics? Within each profession there exists a number of fundamental principles that guide practice decisions and actions. These principles apply in all practice situations regardless of client characteristics, practice settings, or roles assumed by the professional. Principles are basic rules or guides to one’s practice behaviour, but they are not to be applied without careful analysis. Why Have a Code of Ethics? The importance of having a value base for social workers is that it is intended to guide the actions of social workers and protect the interests of service users. Thus, it is more appropriate to talk about social work ethics. Ethics guide actions and are, therefore, reflections of value statements given flesh by being put into action. It is of little use for social workers to have a professional value base which does not inform and influence their practice as social workers. ❖We can therefore understand social work Ethics as values put into Action (Banks, 2006) Professional Ethics Definition: The codification of the special obligation that arises out of a person’s voluntary choice to become a professional. Professional SW ethics are intended to help SW recognize morally correct practice and learn how to decide and act in a professional situation. (Dolgoff, Loewenberg & Harrington, 1996) Framework – Codes of Ethics National Association of Social Workers (NASW) International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) Jamaica Association of Social Workers (JASW) National Association of Social Workers (NASW) six (6) Core Values SERVICE SOCIAL JUSTICE DIGNITY AND IMPORTANCE OF WORTH OF THE HUMAN PERSON RELATIONSHIPS INTEGRITY COMPETENCE Ethical principles Social workers’ primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems. (Service) Social workers challenge social injustice. ( social justice) Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person. Ethical principles Social workers recognize the central importance of human relationships. Social workers behave in a trustworthy manner. (Integrity) Social workers practice within their areas of competence and develop and enhance their professional expertise. Ethical Standards Ethical responsibility to clients - Commitment to Client, Self Determination, Informed Consent, conflicts of interest, sexual relationships etc Ethical responsibility to colleagues – respect, confidentiality, colleague impairment Ethical responsibility in practice setting – supervision, consultation Ethical responsibility to the profession – integrity of the profession Ethical responsibility as professionals -competence Ethical responsibility to broader society –social welfare, public participation, social action  ✓ Commitment to clients ✓ Promoting self-determination ✓ Securing informed consent ✓ Demonstrating professional competence Ethical ✓ Cultural awareness and social diversity ✓ Avoiding conflict of interest responsibility to ✓ Protecting client privacy and clients confidentiality ✓ Access to records ✓ Prohibitions regarding sexual involvement/ sexual harassment ✓ Appropriate termination  ✓ Treating colleagues with respect ✓ Maintaining professional confidentiality ✓ Collaboration and teamwork Ethical ✓ Conduct during disputes responsibility to ✓ Seeking advice colleagues ✓ Sexual relationships and harassment ✓ Reporting colleagues who may be impaired, incompetent or unethical  ✓ Providing competent supervision Ethical ✓ Providing competent consultation responsibility to ✓ Education and training practice settings ✓ Appropriate work environment ✓ Commitment to employers  ✓ Accepting assignments when you are competent Ethical ✓ Addressing discrimination responsibility ✓ Engaging in dishonesty as a ✓ Impairment professional ✓ Misrepresentation ✓ Solicitation  ✓ Promote integrity of the Ethical profession Responsibility to ✓ Evaluation and research the social work ✓ Contribute to growth and development of the profession profession Ethical ✓ Social welfare responsibility ✓ Public participation to the ✓ Public emergencies broader ✓ Social and political action society Additional social work principles, esp in research, medicine: Beneficence: do the greatest amount of good Nonmaleficence: do no harm Least Harm: choose to do least harm to fewest number of people Justice: be fair 32 Principles (cont’d) Veracity: deal honestly with others Fidelity: be faithful to promises made (confidentiality) Double effect: good intended but bad come along as well The greatest happiness/ Utility: greatest good to the greatest number of number of people Self determination/ Autonomy : right to make life choices CONSIDERATIONS WHEN ETHICAL ISSUES ARISE The Heinz Dilemma (proposed by Kholberg) The story goes that there lives a pharmacist who creates a medicine. The medicine can save Heinz' wife from death but the pharmacist has marked the drug up ten times because he can. Heinz comes up with half the money and pleads with the man to accept partial payment to no avail. Heinz is desperate to save his wife and considers just stealing the medicine. What should Heinz do? Approaches to Ethical decision Making Ethical theories and principles are the foundation for ethical analysis. They provide guidelines for arriving at ethical decisions. Theories vary in the points of view and use differing points to attain what they consider to be the correct solution to an ethical dilemma. The usefulness of a theory is determined by its ability to direct towards a common set of principles. 36 The person in the decision-making process Ethical thinkers are often divided into two schools of thought: teleologists, or relativists—who believe that what is right is determined by the consequences of the decision deontologists, or absolutists—who believe that what is right is not determined by consequences but that instead, certain actions are inherently right or wrong (Reamer, 1990). The person in the process These two schools of thought reflect the difference between ends and means or between outcome and process. The teleologists argue that a decision is ethical if it produces a good result while the deontologist argue that a result cannot truly be good unless it is achieved through good processes ie adherence to rules is central. Once formulated, ethical rules should hold under all circumstances (Loewenberg & Dolgoff, 1996) Ethical process Teleological ethics is concerned with the ends or consequences of actions. (also called consequentialist). Deontological ethics is concerned with the nature of the acts themselves. (also called absolutist, natural moral law and Kantian ethics)  Two types of ethical thinkers Teleologists/Relativists Deontologists/Absolutists What is right is determined by the consequences What is right is not determined by the of the decision consequences but whether an action is right or wrong Concerned with the ends Concerned with the means Outcomes Process A decision is ethical if it produces a good result A result cannot be good unless it is achieved via good processes 2 major schools of thought: Major schools of thoughts: Egoism & Utilitarianism Absolutism, natural moral law and Kantian ethics Egoism: people should pursue their own self- interests and good will be accomplished when they do so Utilitarianism: an action is right if it promotes the maximum good Egoism: concerned with end results for each individual Utilitarianism: concerned with end results for as Source: Hartsell (2006) many individuals as possible What Ethics is not: Verlasquez et al. (1987) 1. Not necessarily about acting according to ones feelings. 2. Not equated with religion. Religion advocate and provide incentives for people to act ethically. Ethics applies to every one; religion applies to some groups of people. 3. Not to be confused with respecting laws. Laws have been known to be in hindsight unethical(slavery, apartheid, compulsory sterilization of certain groups, mental health practices) 4) Cannot be based on what society accepts. Individual behaviour may deviate from ethical behaviour. Society may condone that unethical behaviour (withholding vital services from certain groups of people) What is the importance & relevance of ethics to social workers? Why ethics in human services? Because social workers must practice 1. Without discrimination 2. With respect 3. With knowledge & skills related to: Age Disability Class Ethnicity Family Sex Colour Sexual orientation Gender Culture Marital status Religion Race National origin Why are ethics important to you? Help in making better judgments on behalf of people/clients, who expect use of professional skill & judgment, always for their good & best interest: – Conditions your views about what is right & proper. – Teach us to get the full story and avoid making snap decisions about whether something is wrong or right. – Teach that when judging what is good or bad , we need to examine what lies below the surface.  The importance of studying ethics in social work practice 1. Social workers encounter a wide range of social problems and issues. 2. Their decisions, actions & how they go about their work have the potential to benefit or harm clients. 3. They indicate that attention must be paid to what is regarded as valuable. The importance (cont’d) 4. They must practice without discrimination & with respect, knowledge & skills relevant to a client’s age, gender, culture, disability, religion, marital status, class, colour, family structure etc. 5. Being ethically aware & committed to acting ethically is an essential aspect of the quality of service that is offered. Relevance of Ethics in Human Services? a) To provide standards which direct the actions and decisions of human service providers. b) To ensure the preservation of the rights and dignity of those accessing Human services c) To preserve the integrity of the human service profession d) To provide standards which can be used to determine whether or not service providers engaged in unethical behaviour. e) To assist providers in identifying relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or uncertainties arise. f) To acquaint providers with the fields mission, values and ethical principles and standards. g) To minimize the incidents of mistakes, oversights an negligence on the part of the service provider. Distinction between law & ethics CONCEPTS LAW ETHICS SOURCE External to oneself; rules Internal to oneself; and regulations of society values, beliefs and individual interpretations CONCERNS Conduct and actions; what Motives, attitudes and a person did or failed to do culture; why one acted the way one did INTERESTS Society as a whole as Good of the individual opposed to the individual within the society ENFORCEMENTS Courts, statues and boards Ethics committees and of nursing professional organizations Adapted from Guido, G W (1988) Legal Issues in Nursing: A sourcebook for Practice Law & Social Work Values, value conflicts, ethical dilemma Loewenberg at al. (2005) defines an ethical dilemma as one in which a social worker must choose between two or more relevant but contradictory, ethical directives/values, or when every alternative results in an undesirable outcome for one or more persons. What Is An Ethical Dilemma? Law and Social Work – the potential dilemmas Some common issues in ethics Independence (autonomy/self-determination) vs paternalism Clashes of interest or values Needs, rights & ways of life How many public resources are available? Incarcerated clients generally and those with mental health issues [dual loyalty social workers are both helpers and controllers dilemma advocacy vs institutional regulations Sexual relations with clients Ethical dilemmas If you were in a car driving down the road and an old man was walking by himself and a baby was crawling in the road in front of your car. Which one would you hit? Ethical dilemmas You are a passenger on a ship sailing across the ocean. Suddenly, your ship is overtaken in a powerful storm. You escape to a lifeboat with 25 other passengers. You notice that four of the passengers are badly injured, and unlikely to survive for more than a week. You also know that the lifeboat only has enough food and water to sustain 22 passengers. Some of the other passengers are considering throwing the four injured passengers overboard in order to save the other survivors. If you were a natural law theorist, how would you solve this ethical dilemma? Ethical dilemmas You are the administrator of a residential care facility. You are in receipt of a letter from the hospital where your elderly residents typically went for treatment. The letter stated that 5 of the patients who had recently had surgery was suspected that some of the blood used in their transfusions may have been tainted with HIV. You are being asked to call hospital immediately to arrange testing. The ethical dilemma the individual versus the community. If you tell the staff they may refuse to care for these patients, on the other hand, if you do not tell them and one of them contracts AIDS, you would be culpable. Check yourself Did your decision Is your decision in the maintain professional best interest of the and personal honesty? client? Does your decision Can you justify your suggest malice or desire actions to peers? for personal gain? Is your decision supported by the law? Applying the law to social work “Collaboration will not be realised without discussion of values, power, objectives, expertise, knowledge and structures.” Braye & Preston-Shoot (1997) Applying law to social work Applying law to social work Applying the law to social work ❖ Familiarity with court structure, rules and limits to confidentiality. Conclusion Social work practice is based upon assessments of situations and decisions about strategies to be adopted. Sometimes, there can be a tension between the law and working within social work values; the law provides the framework for practice. Final words The law provides a mandate for practice, but good practice involves more than knowing and applying the law; it also involves social work skills and values. Social workers need to be able to recognise their own values and prejudices. Social workers need to be able to demonstrate an understanding of the core values of social work practice, such as respecting and valuing uniqueness and diversity. Final words (cont’d) A commitment to social work values promotes effective practice, such as working in partnership and empowerment of service users. Legal values can accord with social work values and can help social workers work positively to support and empower service users. There may sometimes be tensions between the need for social workers to fulfil their legal obligations and the need to uphold their social work values. References References Congress, Elaine (1999). Social Work Values and Ethics – Identifying and Resolving Professional Dilemmas, Nelson-Hall, Inc Loewenberg, Frank M & Dolgoff, Ralph (1996). Ethical Decisions for social work practice, F. E Peacock Publishers, Inc Illinois Mattison, Marian (2000). Ethical Decision Making: The Person in the Process, Journal of the National Association of Social Workers, 45, 201-212 References Journal of Social Work Values & Ethics at: http://www.socialworker.com/jswve Reference Social care, social work and the law, England and Wales (K269)