Social Work Ethics and Values Essay Example

Introduction

Ethical dilemmas are a common occurrence in the day-to-day operations of social workers due to the complex nature of the challenges that they are expected to solve. Ethical dilemmas occur when a social worker faces a situation where they must choose between alternatives that are often equally unwelcome and result in conflicts relating to moral values (Doel, 2016). Although Social workers are in general expected to make decisions that promote the overall well-being of their clients, in some cases, the ethical dilemmas involved makes it extremely difficult for the social worker to make the right decision and have the capacity to justify that the decision is the most appropriate for the well-being of the client. This paper will primarily focus on the ethical dilemma involving the patient's autonomy and protecting the patient's welfare, in this case, a minor.

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The ethical principle of patient’s autonomy dictates that a patient has the right to make critical decisions related to their lives as long as their decision actions do not interfere with other individuals' welfare. The principle of autonomy advocates for the unconditional concepts of patient's self-determination, self-rule, and self-governance. The ethical principle of beneficence dictates that the social worker has the responsibility to enhance and improve the patients' welfare. In some instances, the focus of beneficence might bring conflicts between the social worker and the client because what the social worker might term as enhancing and improving the patient's welfare might not be the patient's idea of improving and enhancing their welfare (Koepsell, 2017).

Background Information

The case involves Melody, a 15 years old female patient who lives with her mother, her stepfather, and her younger sister. The minor presented with signs and symptoms of drug abuse and addiction. She explained that she was secretly abusing substances and her parents were not aware of her addiction struggle. On inquiring further about how she started using drugs, she explained that her stepfather first introduced her to alcohol, among other substances, approximately two years earlier. Since then, she had graduated become overly dependent on the drugs. She also said that her stepfather had been sexually harassing her, but she had never told anyone about it. She immersed herself deeper into drug addiction because drugs made her feel better and helped her forget about her sexual molestation incidents.

She categorically stated that she did not want anyone else to know about her struggles while she was open to receiving help. Thus, the social worker was to practice confidentiality. No one was to learn, not even Melody's parents. The ethical dilemma presented was on whether the social worker was to respect Melody's autonomy, given that not respecting it would mean that her trust to the social worker would be crushed or whether the social worker was to break the confidentiality and ignore Melody's autonomy to protect her welfare and that of the younger sister. The latter is also under the guardian of the stepfather.

Literature Review

A study by Cuman and Gastmans (2017) on minors and euthanasia revealed that there in countries such as the Netherlands, children who are above 12 years could request for euthanasia, while in countries such as Belgium, minors' requests for euthanasia can only be approved if the minors were deemed to have achieved the capacity of discernment and if they were competent. However, there were debates about how the minors could be ascertained to have the competency required for the approval of euthanasia. To those who argued that the minors could be approved for euthanasia, the researchers revealed that their justification was on the principles of autonomy and beneficence. To the contrast, those who argued against the minors’ euthanasia used the principles of non-maleficence and beneficence to justify their claims.

A further study by Chenneville et al. (2020) to investigate the balance between protecting the welfare of HIV infected minors and their autonomy when using such children for a study in research reveal that there exists a significant dilemma on whether the minors must have consents from their guardians or should exercise their autonomy and decide to participate in the study. While the requirement for parental consent might create a significant barrier to the minors participating in the research, the researchers revealed that the approval would help protect the children's welfare, mostly due to their vulnerability and societal stigmatization and discrimination.

Research by Dhai and Mahomed (2020) also reveals that because of the social harms of discrimination and stigmatization today, vulnerable children such as those living with HIV should be managed holistically with the sole intention of protecting the wellness and best interests of the minor.

Social Work Values and Professional Value Conflicts

In the above case, there exist several conflicts between social work values and professional values. While the professional social work values dictate that the social worker should be trustable by the patients and should be able to respect the client’s decision, there exists a conflict in the case of when a minor is involved or when a minor is not competent enough to make such decisions.

Professional values dictate that the social worker should take the necessary action through the appropriate channels to safeguard the client's well-being. In the case of Melody, the social worker is faced with a conflict of whether to follow the social work values and respect Melody's decision of her parents or anyone else being informed of her addiction and sexual harassment problem or to entirely ignore Melody’s requests and follow the professional values which allow the social worker to share Melody's issues with a colleague through the appropriate channels. In the end, the social worker has to make a decision that would look into the best interests of Melody, but he/she must decide on whether to follow the professional values or social work values.

How the Code of Ethics Applies to Technology with This Ethical Dilemma

Before using technology in hospitals and the social work field was massively integrated, the breach of client confidentiality was not a significant concern because there were no third parties involved in handling the confidential information sherd between the client and the social worker. Only the social worker had the right to access what they had discussed with the client and not unless they decided to share the client's issues with another colleague through the required protocols, there is no way any other person was able to know what the client shared with the social worker (Reamer, 2017).

However, in the wake of technological inventions relating to the social work field, breaching the client’s confidentiality is relatively easy. Often, computers are used to store all the client's records, and a lot more people within the facilities can access the documents through the computers. As such, the chances that a client’s confidential records will be compromised is high (Reamer, 2017).

In ethical dilemmas on the patient's autonomy and protecting the patient's welfare, the NASW code of ethics dictates that the social workers should observe integrity and behave in a trustworthy manner. Acknowledging that technology has significantly made the social workers work easy, the social workers must observe the values of integrity as outlined in the NASW code of ethics (Reamer, 2017).

Why the Issue Matter to the Social Work Practice, the Community, and Larger Society

The social issues discussed in this paper include drug abuse and child abuse. The above problems matter to social work practice because drug abuse has increasingly become a menace, especially with minors. In the course of social work practice, social workers have, in the recent past, experienced a surge in the number of minors facing problems related to drug abuse. Surprisingly, most of the children are introduced to drug use by adults who often take advantage of them either sexually or in other forms.

Based on the current trends, it is expected that more and more minors will fall into drug addiction, which further raises the concern for social work practitioners. The issue of child abuse is also a critical issue at the core of social work practice. Children who are abused at a tender age often have difficulties in their adult lives, with some ending up to be abusers. Therefore, it is a core mission of social workers to protect the children who have been abused or who are at a high risk of being abused (Doel, 2016).

The issue of drug addiction and child abuse also matters to the community and the society at large because the individuals who introduce these children to the use of drugs or those who abuse children are members of the society. The community must be sensitized on how to safeguard the best interests of the children. The society plays a critical role in protecting these children by reporting to the necessary authorities when someone is suspected of recruiting a child into drug addiction or suspected of abusing a child, more so sexually. For the minors' interests to be wholly addressed and looked into, it requires the combined efforts between the social workers, the community, and society at large.

How to Address the Ethical Dilemma

To address the ethical dilemma discussed above, I would first consult with the NASW code of ethics to identify which specific principles conflict in the case above. I would then go through both the federal and state laws to ensure that the decisions being made are legal and ethical at the same time. The decisions must be aligned with the specific state's laws and must obey the federal laws in equal measure. Without this, then the decisions would not help to solve the problems presented. I would then consult a supervisor, who has been long enough in the field of social work to give their opinions and guidance on how the problem should be addressed.

After the supervisor’s opinion, I would then consult the NASW support system for professional advice. The NASW support system gives social workers an avenue to efficiently and confidentially consult about an ethical dilemma that they have faced without necessarily revealing the client's identity. Because the NASW support staff are a neutral body with no personal interests involved in the cases, they are better suited to give objective professional advice. After the thorough consultation from the supervisor and the NASW support, I would then take time and process the information before deciding on how best the problem can be solved.

Analyze the Options You Would Consider

The two main options that I would consider in solving the ethical dilemma include respecting Melody’s autonomy. No one else should know about her social issues and ignore her independence and share her problems social with colleagues through the appropriate channels. While the first option is an ideal situation where Melody’s wishes would be respected, and trust would be cultivated between her and the social worker, Melody is just a minor who might not have the competency required to make such a decision. In contrast, while the second decision might compromise Melody's autonomy, this decision will look into Melody's best interest.

References

Cuman, G., & Gastmans, C. (2017). Minors and euthanasia: a systematic review of argument-based ethics literature. European journal of pediatrics, 176(7), 837-847. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00431-017-2934-8

Dhai, A., & Mahomed, S. (2020). Ethical, Legal, and Social Issues. In HIV Infection in Children and Adolescents (pp. 309-322). Springer, Cham.