Social workers in a Qatari health setting: responding positively to ethical problems

ABSTRACT

Social workers in health settings often face challenging ethical problems in their daily practice. These challenges may be internal in nature and in particular related to their personal and cultural beliefs. The aim of this study is to gain an understanding of what positive strategies social workers employ to respond to ethical problems when working with clients accessing health services. The paper is based on results of a qualitative study which applied semi-structured interviews to explore the views of eight male and female health practitioners at Hamad Medical Corporation in Qatar. Three primary themes emerged: being positive; practising wisdom and self-care. Most social workers in this small sample remained broadly optimistic about overcoming ethical challenges.

KEYWORDS:

• Positive ethics
• health setting
• Qatar
• social work
• culture
• challenges

Notes on contributor

Dr Nada Eltaiba has a PhD in Social Work and Social Policy, a Masters degree in Counselling and a BA in Social Work. She has an extensive experience as a social work practitioner, researcher and as an educator. She works at Qatar University and has an adjunct appointment at The University of Western Australia. She worked as a practitioner in various settings in mental health, cross-cultural practices, families, and refugees. Her main research interest is in mental health, cross-cultural practice, ethics and refugees.