Prevalence rates of substantiated and adjudicated ethics violations

Abstract

Summary This exploratory study examined the ethics violation data from one state’s licensing agency over a 28-year period, from 1985 through 2013. This study used descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis of the data to determine occurrence and prevalence rates in 592 cases. Violations were grouped into seven categories, and days before a license complaint was filed were also examined: dates ranged from 8 years before a license was issued (fraud on license application) to 28 years after being licensed. There were 389 females and 203 males in the sample, with 430 holding a social work license, 160 professional counselors, and 2 marriage and family therapists. Findings Of the 592 substantiated and adjudicated cases, 221 related to violations involving licensure, with 169 of those failure to comply with continuing education requirements, and most of those by professionals who have been licensed 10 or more years. Additionally, 156 violations involved boundary crossings, only of which 36 involved sexual boundary violations. Of those involving sexual contact, 22 were by female professionals and 14 by males. An additional 12 cases involved inappropriate sexual relations, but these were unrelated to professional practice. Overall, sexually involved cases represented a little over 8% of the cases, while licensure issues represented 38% of the cases. Applications Understanding which violations occur with more frequency enables social work educators to incorporate understanding the ethics of the social work into academic curriculum. Further study enables the profession to look at both what occurs and how that impacts clients, workers, and the public trust.

Social workers’ perceptions of their peers’ unprofessional behavior

“…qualification) to a social worker based on educational attainment and years of experience. While some estimates indicate as many as 10% of social workers engage in unprofessional and/or unethical behavior that violates the standards of care (Magiste, 2020), the number of professionals engaged in unethical behavior may be decreasing (Schwartz-Mette & Shen-Miller, 2017). Conversely, claims of wrongdoing are reported on 1-2% of all licensed professionals (Magiste, 2020;Van Horne, 2004), though reports of the number of social workers in this category is increasing (Reamer, 2015).…”

“…Only a handful of studies have examined these complaints; however, the collected data spans reports received from 1955 to 2013 (Boland-Prom, 2009; Boland-Prom et al, 2015; Daley & Doughty, 2006; Magiste, 2020; Strom-Gottfried, 2000). The most common violations reported in these claims nationally are license-related problems (e.g.…”

“…failure to meet continuing education unit (CEU) requirements) and dual relationships (Boland-Prom, 2009; Boland-Prom et al, 2015). Magiste’s (2020) study examined the complaints from one state (Ohio) from 1985 to 2013, and found similar categories: licensing issues, standards of care, boundary violations, breaches of confidentiality, fraud, and legal issues. These more recent results indicate that the issues reported to licensing boards have not changed substantially over time.…”

“Don’t Shame Me; Walk with Me”

“…Social work licensing boards are mandated to protect the public and client systems by promoting safe, competent, and ethical social work practice (Donaldson et al, 2014;Magiste, 2020). To practice clinical social work in the United States, state licensing laws require social workers to have clinical licensure.…”

“…In a study of the prevalence of licensing complaints against Licensed Independent Social Workers (LISWs) in Ohio between 1985 and 2013, Magiste (2020) found that the board substantiated 592 complaints (averaging 21 per year). The most common complaints were failure to comply with licensing standards (221), nonsexual boundary violations (120), standards of care breaches (65), legal issues not related to direct practice (62), fraud (59), sexual violations (36), and confidentiality breaches (17).…”