TEACHING ETHICAL DECISION MAKING USING DUAL RELATIONSHIP PRINCIPLES AS A CASE EXAMPLE

Abstract

When the National Association of Social Workers (1999) ratified the Code of Ethics in 2000, it was an acknowledgement that dual relationships can be part of sound social work practice. The educational materials that are available to educators do not move sufficiently beyond a risk-reduction approach to dual relationships to an assessment of how a dual relationship can be assessed and ethically maintained. This article presents discussion on the practice and cultural issues that influence dual relationships in various environments, reviews the materials available to social work educators, and describes how social work educators can train students for making more complex assessments of potential dual relationships. The article includes recommendations for problem-solving models that are applicable to the complexity of dual relationship assessment and recommends more descriptive vocabulary to assist in contextualizing discussions about dual relationships.