SW 100 - Week 4: Social Work Ethics

Vocabulary flashcards covering the history, core values, ethical theories, tensions, and practices of social work ethics based on SW 100 lecture notes.

The Morality Period

The historical era in the early 20th century when social work was first considered a profession; individual problems were viewed as stemming from moral failings, and workers focused on evaluating the ethics and decision-making of clients rather than their own.

The Values Period

The historical era beginning in the early 1950s when social workers began examining what it meant to be a social worker, reflecting on how personal values influenced practice, and developing and distributing ethical guidelines.

The Ethical Theory and Decision-Making Period

The historical era in the 1970s emerging alongside controversial medical advances, marked by rights-based thinking, heightened awareness of power inequities, social justice issues, and atrocities, as well as the rise of utilitarian and deontological frameworks.

Utilitarian theories

Ethical frameworks that determine whether actions are right or wrong based solely on their outcomes.

Deontological theories

Ethical frameworks asserting that actions are intrinsically right or wrong, regardless of their outcomes.

The Ethical Standards and Risk Management Period

The present era of social work ethics beginning in the 1990s, characterized by the development of formalized ethical standards, heightened clinician responsibility, and the understanding that standards must evolve continuously with social and cultural changes.

Buila (2010)

A study examining 55 professional codes of ethics which concluded that social work is unique because it considers social and political action to be within the realm of professional responsibility.

CASW Core Values (2024)

The seven central values outlined by the Canadian Association of Social Workers: respecting dignity and worth of all people, promoting social justice, pursuing truth and reconciliation, valuing human relationships, preserving integrity in professional practice, maintaining privacy and confidentiality, and providing competent professional services.

Tensions and Criticisms in Social Work Ethics

Key ethical challenges including working toward social justice while employed inside systems that uphold institutional harm, addressing the impact of technology, and dealing with professional ethics that are vague and non-prescriptive.

Purpose of the CASW Code

To provide an ethical foundation for social work in Canada where all values, principles, and guidelines hold equal importance, guiding practitioners through both the spirit and the letter of the Code to act in good faith.

Strategies for Supporting Ethical Practice

A set of practices for managing ethical dilemmas, which includes defining the problem, recognizing personal biases, seeking social work supervision and consultation, understanding the risks of moral distress and burnout, and maintaining self-care.