Expanding the Boundaries of Ethics Education: Preparing Social Workers for Ethical Advocacy in an Organizational Setting

Abstract

Educators have traditionally taught ethics by using models of ethical reasoning, which assume that ethical reasoning skills are sufficient tools for helping social workers to effectively voice clients' and patients' needs in diverse settings. Using hospitals as an example, the authors argue that contextual barriers often prevent social workers from ensuring that patients' and clients' perspectives are adequately represented in ethical deliberations. The authors propose that educators also teach students strategies for how to engage in effective ethical advocacy. Specific strategies that educators can incorporate into course discussions are presented.

Hierarchies of Ethical Principles for Ethical Decision Making in Social Work

“…For agencies or organizations, discussions about priorities within the work setting can help social workers clarify how their own values fit with those of the organization and areas of agency policy that may need to be revised to be consistent with social work values and ethics. Dodd and Jansson (2004) suggest several ways in which social workers can get involved in ethical decision making and become ethical advocates in organizational settings. Ideally, discussions about such discrepancies could occur before the social worker is faced with a situation that either requires going against their own ethical beliefs, or being reprimanded or fired.…”

An Exploratory Study Examining Instructional Decisions, Strategies, and Ethics in Social Work Education

“…A variety of instructional approaches are being used to teach social work ethics however, the results are inconsistent with the social work literature. Vignettes and case studies are common activities used to teach ethics (Dodd & Jansson, 2004;Fossen et al, 2014;McCormick et al, 2014;Ringel & Mishna, 2007), yet this survey found that lectures were the most common method of ethics instruction. Noninteractive instructional methods such as the use of lectures and readings were found to be used quite frequently in this study, which supports the opinions of several respondents regarding the lack of creativity in teaching methods.…”

“…Continuing education providers in medical social work used case studies to illustrate ethical concepts, such as patient autonomy and capacity, and to stimulate discussion among training participants (McCormick et al, 2014). Dodd and Jansson (2004) used case examples from a hospital setting as a teaching tool to highlight the need for ensuring that patient and client needs are represented in ethical deliberations.…”

Ethics Audit Of A Therapeutic Recreation Course

“…11,12 Additional allied health literature also suggest the need to utilize approaches such as case studies and videos to augment clinical experience. 10,[13][14][15] Within recreation, Henderson and Bedini 16 recommended using experiential education, stating ethical development is context dependent and requires practice. They advocated for the use of community service, analyzed in the classroom, to combine experience with learning.…”