Values & Ethics in Social Work

Week 02

At the heart of SW are its values

o Values assist the social worker and the social work profession in setting goals related
to both clients and society
Common themes in SW that suggest that social workers hold some fundamental beliefs in
common
o Social workers tend to believe that society has the responsibility to assist people in
meeting their needs, people should be included in making decisions that affect their
lives, positive change in peoples lives can be attained through professional help etc.
Most concrete expression of SWs ethical guidelines is embodied in the NASW code of ethics
o This code helps social workers make the inevitable moral choices that arise in daily
practice
o If unethical practice is suspected, the code also becomes the criteria by which the
social workers ethical behaviour is evaluated
Beliefs about who should be responsible for meeting human needs, what role government or
private charity should play, and how much of the nations wealth should be invested in
meeting the peoples social needs etc. examples of values have shaped human services
programs
Should potential clients be encouraged or discouraged from seeking help/ should clients pay
for a service etc.
o The dominant values of a agency can have a direct impact on social work practice
The values of a social workers clients, too, affect practice
o If client feels stigmatized, demeaned, or embarrassed to ask for assistance, the clients
ability to productively use the service is affected
o Further, much of practice involves helping clients identify, clarify, and resolve value
issues that are almost always present in human interactions
As members of a profession that has based many of its practice approaches and principles on
certain beliefs about people and how they can best be served, social workers must be
cognizant of the professions values
Each social worker must be prepared to adhere to the NASW code of ethics
The social worker must be clear about how the professions values and ethical standards
interact with his or her own belief system
o Therefore understanding ones own values becomes critical for the social worker

The Nature of Values

Rokeach defines a value as a type of belief, centrally located in ones total belief system,
about how one ought or ought not to behave, or about some end state of existence worth or
not worth attaining
o This definition helps to clarify the 2 central functions our values perform:
1st function reflects our instrumental values-how we should or should not
behave, these values provide the moral or ethical guidelines that help us
determine how we conduct our lives as social workers and how we perform
our work
2nd function known as terminal values reflects the bottom line of what we
want to accomplish. Ensuring a safe environment for all people/ a sufficient
distribution of the worlds wealth to eliminate hunger/achieving social justice
Values are much more than emotional reactions to situations or doing what feels right
Values are the fundamental criteria that lead us to thoughtful decisions
o Important to recognize that people do not always behave in a manner consistent with
their values
o Values guide decisions but do not dictate choices
o People can and do make decisions contrary to their values
Such decisions might be made when other factors are given priority
When the person acts on emotion
When one fails to adequately think through and understand the value issues
in a situation
Dealing with values is particularly difficult for several reasons
o Values are such a central part of our thought processes that we often are not
consciously aware of them and therefore are unable to identify their influence on our
decisions
o The social worker should constantly be alert to values in practice situations as these
values may subtly influence the thoughts, feelings, attitudes, and behaviours of both
the client and the social worker
Addressing values in the abstract may be quite different from applying them in a real life
situation
Values are problematic because they change over time
o Various events, experiences, and even new information can lead clients to adapt their
system of values to more closely fit their current situation

The place of values in Social Work

Helping people be clear about their individual values, that is values clarification, and
facilitating their understanding of how the particular set of values they hold influences their
goals and decisions is an important aspect of social work practice
Matter becomes more complicated when social work practice involves more than one person,
as it is likely each will have a somewhat different value system
o In that case, the social worker may need to help resolve issues that stem from
differences in values
o Social worker must be concerned with his or her own values and control for the
inappropriate intrusion into practice situations
o Value choices that might be viable personally for the social worker may not coincide
with the needs, wants, priorities, or realities of the client experiences
SW has not developed a sufficiently clear and adequately tested statement of its core values
to offer a definitive description of its central beliefs
o At best, there is only rather general agreement that some values are fundamental to
social work practice

Social Values in the US society

Values differ from needs
o Latter refers to peoples basic biological or psychological urges, while values reflect
what people hope to get out of life and how this should be accomplished
The choice of which needs a society will attempt to meet depends on what it values
o The most predominant feature of Western values is the central place of the individual;
that is the society exists to help individuals lead satisfying and productive lives
In carrying out the societys values to respond to human needs, the social worker becomes an
intermediary between people in need and societys value judgements about what needs are to
be met
Kahhles study of the social values held by Americans suggests that value preferences differ
substantially for different segments of the population
o The data reveal that the more vulnerable groups consistently hold 2 values, security
and being respected, at much higher levels than the general population
o If one is poor, has a limited education, is a minority member, is old, he or she is likely
to worry about having basic health insurance, sufficient income and safety
o Also likely that he or she is regularly disregarded by others or will suffer various
forms of discrimination
Under these conditions, one values highly what he or she does not havesecurity and respect
o From the vantage point of social work, these data reinforce the view that it is
important to support the development of social programs that increase peoples
security and to deliver those programs in a manner that treats the recipients with
dignity
With those 2 basic social values achieved, people are then ready to address
other areas of need that can enhance their lives
Social workers and other professionals must be particularly alert to what the client values
because those values are not likely to be held with the same strength by the professionals
themselves
o The data from the Kahle study indicate that attaining such basic values as security
and being respected by others were not of high priority to professionals
o After all, they dont really need to worry about those basics
o Professionals are highly educated, usually have secure jobs with relatively high
income and can feel pretty safe about their futures
o Their value preferences are related to items such as achieving self-respect, having a
sense of accomplishment, and experiencing fulfilment

Values held by Social Workers

When developing its classification scheme for different levels of practice, NASW (National
Association of Social Workers) identified 10 basic social work values
o These statements express the basic values that underpin the profession of SW

Areas of practice addressed by the NASW code of ethics

The following statement summarize the main sections of NASWs code of ethics

Illustrations of values and ethics operating in SW

Most ethical decisions, unfortunately, are not clear and require the social worker to make
choices when sometimes none of the alternatives are desirable
The worker must weigh one choice against others and make a decision about which option is
best or too often which is least harmful
One cannot understand social work without being sensitive to values
o Values represent a highly individual and personal view that must be constantly
examined during practice
o Social worker must be aware of the value system of the client and the values held by
society that impinge upon the client
o These values however are not held equally by all people and client groups can be
expected to vary in the intensity with which they hold particular values
The social worker must attempt to avoid imposing personal beliefs inappropriately on the
clients
To practice SW, one must be prepared to accept and understand people who hold values that
are different from their own
SWs constellation of core values is unique
A difficulty in addressing vales is that they are not usually explicitly stated and must be
inferred from peoples behaviours
Even when the knowledge available to guide practice is limited, the social worker who falls
back on the values of the profession cannot go far wrong in guiding the helping process
When the worker is value sensitive and effectively supplies the competencies of social work
practice, clients receive the quality of services they should expect from a professional
Instrumental value= a value that guided her actions in her r/s with XX
Terminal value= leads to actions regarding an outcome, better employment services, that
XXX wanted to accomplish