Reference no: EM133455315

Social workers assess problems and attempt to understand human behavior within the context of social work values and ethics. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics (2008) focus on six areas involving how a worker should behave in a professional role. These include ethical responsibilities (1) to clients, (2) to colleagues, (3) in practice settings, (4) as professionals, (5) to the social work profession, and (6) to the broader society.

Social workers should always keep in mind their clients' rights and well being. We have established that to the best of their ability, social workers should strive to abide by professional ethical principles, respect the rights and needs of others, and make decisions about right and wrong consistent with their professional ethics. This sounds simple; but, consider the following scenario:

You are a hospital social worker assessing a client with AIDS. (AIDS is covered in Chapter 10). He tells you that he has had unprotected intercourse with dozens of women since he received his positive HIV diagnosis. He has shared his diagnosis with none of these women. He boldly states that he is incredibly angry that he has the disease and plans to continue having intercourse with as many women as he can. You believe that it is both unethical and hazardous to his sex partners for him not to tell them about their potential exposure to the disease. Clients are supposed to be able to make choices about their own behavior. You are supposed to keep the interactions between you and your client confidential. But what about the unsuspecting victims of your client's choices? What is the ethical thing to do?

Dilemmas involve problematic situations for which possible solutions are imperfect arid unsatisfactory. Many such dilemmas are encountered in social work practice. Three basic suggestions can guide your critical thinking process. They are made within the context of assessing human behavior in order to lay the groundwork for determining what intervention to pursue.

1. Put your theoretical and factual knowledge base about human behavior to work

2. Identify your own values concerning the issues and then distinguish between your values and professional ethics.

3. Weigh the pros and cons of each alternative available to you and your client, and then proceed with the alternative you determine is the most positive.