Final Exam - Prep 1 Flashcards
Virtues
about being informed by personal, professional and societal values
Ethical skills
techniques or abilities required for ethical human service practice.
Ethical knowledge
understanding theories and concepts of ethical practice
Values
Knowledge-based:
value eating nutritious food/exercising because it’s the best way to keep healthy.
Value
Aesthetics-based:
I prefer letting in the natural light rather than switching on the fluorescent lights.
Values
Morals-based:
I believe that by acting in a trustworthy way my work colleagues will be more likely to trust me.
The human service professions hold some common values, including acceptance, tolerance, individuality, self-determination and confidentiality
Pragmatism Competence Respect Genuineness Client self-responsibility
Core or foundational values of human service practice
Valuing humanity Valuing positive change Valuing choice Valuing quality service Valuing privacy Valuing difference and diversity Valuing the environment
Values to ethics
Meta-ethics: concern with broad philosophical concepts (is there such a thing as love? What are virtues?)
Normative Ethics: concerned with application of moral concepts to daily problems (is it right to breach confidence in this situation? Is it acceptable to lie to protect someone else?)
Applied Ethics: refers to particular areas of interest (e.g. euthanasia, animal rights, reproductive autonomy)
In essence, ethics has to do with:
Rights Responsibilities Duties Obligations Ethics can be disorientating
Telos (which means goal or end)
– Consequentialist
Deon (which means duty)
– Non-consequentialist
A Virtue Ethicist views a situation from a virtues standpoint, asking ‘What kind of person should I be?’
Defect: Cowardice, Humility, Indecisive
Balance: Courage, Modesty, Self-control
Excess: Rashness, pride, impulsive
Contractarian Ethicists are concerned with
concerned with protecting the human, civil, political and legal status of an individual through a social contract.
Communitarian Ethicists
move beyond individualism to consider the social context and how the community will be impacted by decisions
Feminist Ethic of Care
is our first ethical theory where we can name a woman as the founder!
Eastern philosophical Traditions
Compassion
Increasing individual awareness/insight
Acting for the collective
Western philosophical Traditions
Good will
Duty
Individual excellence
The major influences from Eastern philosophy are:
Hindu philosophy 5500 - 2600 BCE
Buddhist philosophy 6th century BCE
Chinese philosophy 770 - 256 BCE
Jewish, Christian and
Muslim traditions
Complex and diverse set of ideas, schools and traditions based in India/Nepal
The nature of human service
work necessitates an understanding of moral practice and of power in relationships
Deontology holds that
rightness or wrongness of actions depends on duty and that humans are rational with capacity for reason
Utilitarianism is based on
the concept of doing ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’
Other ethical theories include
Virtue ethics,
Contractarian ethics,
Communitarian ethics,
Feminist ethics of Care.
Eastern philosophical traditions focus on
compassion, increasing individual awareness and acting for the collective. Western traditions focus on good will, duty and pursuit of individual excellence.
Ethical Issues
The bigger picture ethical issues that have to do with human rights, duties, responsibilities. For example, people should have the right to safe, secure and affordable housing; people should have the right to live in situations free from violence or abuse.
Ethical Problems
Refer to situations that have moral dimensions, but the right course of action is generally apparent. For example, people should have the right to affordable housing, however many people are homeless which is an ethical problem for those who need to make decisions about where to allocate resources.
Ethical dilemmas
occur when an individual sees themselves as faced with a choice between two equally unwelcome alternatives and may involve a conflict of moral principles and it is not clear which choice is going to be the right one. For example, there are many people on waiting lists for public housing, so how do we determine who should have priority and on what basis? Ethical dilemmas typically have an X vs Y formulation - one principle competing with another. Should an older person with a disability who has been longer on a waiting list take priority over a family who are living in their car?
Ethical decision-making
is the processes of choosing the best alternative for achieving the best results or outcomes, compliant with individual and social values, morality and regulations (Banks, 2012).
Threats (ethical challenges in practice) include
Multiple or dual relationships
Sexual and intimate relations
Concrete assistance, gifts and loans:
Religious, spiritual and body-focused interventions:
Confidentiality and disclosure:
Imposition of personal valuesImpaired practice
top 5 unethical behaviours as:
Have a sexual encounter with a current client
Borrow money from a client
Agree to be named as a beneficiary in a client’s will
Accept an ex-romantic partner as a client
Falsify statistics in order to ensure a service is maintained
top 5 behaviours considered mostly ethical
Inform clients about limits of confidentiality
Break confidentiality if a client is suicidal
Attend a client’s funeral
Report a serious criminal activity told in confidence
Give a client a ride home in your work vehicle
5 behaviours where ‘it depends’
Engage in recreational or social activities with clients (51% have done this)
Hug or embrace a client (78% have done this)
Share information about your personal or family life (87% have done this)
Give a client a ride home in your work vehicle (71% have done this)
Accept a hand-made gift from a client (75% have done this)
‘4 principles approach to ethics’
Autonomy (self-governing, free of control)
Beneficence (do good)
Non-maleficence (do no harm)
Natural justice (everyone access equal rights)
Boundary issues
arise when human services professionals encounter actual or potential conflicts between their professional duties and their social, sexual, religious or business relationships.
Boundary crossings or breaches
occur when a professional is involved in a dual relationship with a client or colleague in a manner that is not necessarily exploitative, manipulative, deceptive, or coercive. Boundary crossings can be harmful, helpful, or neutral.
Boundary violations
occur when a practitioner engages in a dual relationship with a client or colleague that is exploitative, manipulative, deceptive, or coercive. It is a conflict of interest that causes harm. Intentional or unintentional. So how do you know the difference between a crossing and a violation?
The original four phases of the evolution of social work values and ethics are
Morality period,
Values period,
Ethical theory and decision-making
Ethical standards and risk management.
Areas of controversy in contemporary human service practice include
multiple or dual relationships,
sexual and intimate relationships,
accepting gifts or loans, engaging in religious,
spiritual and body focused interventions,
imposition of worker values on a client and impaired practice
Professional relationships are paid
time limited
structured
contractual and require preparation and training
Personal relationships are voluntary, spontaneous, share power equally, require no preparation and involve a personal choice
3 Key ethical principles underlying professional human service practice are
autonomy, paternalism and self-determination (rule)
privacy and confidentiality (left alone and trusted information)
social control and toleration (agreeing to disagree)
Codes of ethics provide several key functions:
Provide protection of clients or service users and guide practitioners on what constitutes appropriate ethical behaviour.
Enhance the professional status for a professional group and are part of the process of creating and maintaining a professional identity.
Associated with professional regulation.
Regulating professional practice
The complaint mechanisms which play a part in regulating professions and services in the social,
health and human service industry in Australia are governed by:
health complaint commissions in each state and territory
federal and state fair-trading complaint management organisations
national and state health practitioner registration boards for licensed professions
self-regulating professional associations with voluntary membership.
‘Whistle-blowing only makes sense in a context of ethical degeneration’.
This refers to the idea that if there were no ethical misconduct occurring, we would not need whistle-blowers.
Activities that might warrant whistle-blowing include:
Illegality or law infringement
Fraudulent or corrupt conduct
Substantial misconduct, mismanagement or maladministration
Gross or substantial waste of resources
Endangering public health or safety or the environment
Dishonest or partial performance of duties
Breach of trust
Misuse of information
Common mistakes made by whistle-blowers include:
trusting too much,
not having enough evidence,
not waiting for the right opportunity,
not building support
not knowing when to stop.
Australian Integrity bodies include the
Australian Human Rights Commission,
Aged Care Complaints Scheme,
Commonwealth Ombudsman
Administrative Appeals Tribunal
Some problems with codes of ethics include
codes may lack clarity,
have conflict within or between codes,
be reactive,
conflict with organisational policy and not represent cultural issues well
Codes of ethics function to
protect clients or service users,
guide practitioners,
enhance professional status,
create and maintain professional identity
and regulate the profession
In Australia, there are many professions that are not regulated, including
social work,
counsellors,
community workers,
rehabilitation counsellors,
and human services practitioners.
There are 15 professions that are regulated under the body known as AHPRA.
The four platforms on which the Inclusive Modelof Ethical Decision-Making is based are
accountability,
critical reflection,
cultural sensitivity,
and consultation.
An ethical decision-making toolbox is a term used to describe all the ‘tools’ you might need to have with you as a practitioner
Knowledge of the domain of ethics – what is and isn’t ‘about ethics’
Knowledge about ethical decision-making models and development of one that suits your own style
A range of people that you can consult, seek information from, use for support
Important documents – relevant codes of ethics, policies/protocols, legislation – or at least knowledge of how to access these
Cultural expertise – literary resources and people
Build-up of practice wisdom – from self and others – what works and what doesn’t – implications and consequences
Knowledge of how to conduct an ‘ethics audit’ within an organisation to determine areas of potential risk
Ethical decision-making is the process of critical reflection,
evaluation and judgement through which a practitioner resolves ethical issues, problems and dilemmas
There are essentially 3 different types of ethical decision making models:
process models;
reflective models;
and cultural models
