How social workers face ethical dilemmas? Strategies of resolution and associated variables

ABSTRACT

This study aims to establish a typology of professionals based on the strategies used by social workers to resolve ethical dilemmas, and to explore the individual and organisational predictors in each typology. An online survey was carried out with 1069 Spanish social workers. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify different classes of participants. A latent class regression was performed to identify individual and organisational factors that predict latent class membership. The results allowed us to identify three classes: The group that follows an authority pattern, the group that follows an intuitive pattern, and the group that follows a resource-intensive pattern.

The tests associated with the Wald statistic conclude that there are significant differences between the three typlogies in terms of work experience, training in ethical / deontological aspects and knowledge of the social work code of ethics.

RESUMEN

Este estudio tiene como objetivo establecer una tipología de profesionales a partir de las estrategias utilizadas por los trabajadores sociales para resolver dilemas éticos y explorar los predictores individuales y organizacionales en cada tipología. Se realizó una encuesta online a 1.069 trabajadores sociales españoles. Se utilizó el análisis de clases latentes para identificar diferentes clases de participantes. Se realizó una regresión de clase latente para identificar factores individuales y organizacionales que predicen la pertenencia a una clase latente. Los resultados nos permitieron identificar tres clases: el grupo que sigue un patrón de autoridad, el grupo que sigue un patrón intuitivo y el grupo que sigue un patrón de uso intensivo de recursos.

Las pruebas asociadas al estadístico de Wald concluyen que existen diferencias significativas entre las tres tipologías en cuanto a experiencia laboral, formación en aspectos éticos / deontológicos y conocimiento del código ético del trabajo social.

KEYWORDS:

• Resolution strategies
• ethical dilemmas
• social workers
• latent class analysis
• Spain

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• estrategias de resolución
• dilemas éticos
• trabajadores sociales
• análisis de clases latentes
• España

Acknowledgements

We thank all the social workers who participated in this study and the Consejo General del Trabajo Social (General Council of Social Work) for supporting this research. We also thank Grupo de Investigación Reconocido en Ciencias Sociales Aplicadas of University of Valladolid for the support regarding proof-reading of the article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rogelio Gómez-García

Rogelio Gómez-García holds a PhD from University of Salamanca (Spain), and he is an Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology and Social Work of University of Valladolid (Spain). He is an expert on social work practice, burnout and social workers’ satisfaction. He has published his work on several journals such as European Journal of Social Work, Journal of Social Service Research, Journal of Social Work and The British Journal of Social Work. He currently works as Academic Officer of the Sociology and Social Work Department at University of Valladolid.

Alfonso Marquina-Márquez

Alfonso Marquina-Márquez holds a PhD in Social Anthropology from University of Granada (Spain), and he is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work of University of Valladolid (Spain). He also is a researcher at the Applied Sociocultural Studies Research Group (University of Granada) and Applied Social Sciences Research Group (University of Valladolid). His research focuses on the study of social determinants of health and wellbeing with populations and contexts of social vulnerability, risk behaviours and social drugs usage. His research work has been published in scientific journals of recognised prestige in the field.

Siro Bayón-Calvo

Siro Bayón-Calvo holds a PhD from University of Valladolid (Spain), where he is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work. He is an expert on sociology of education, social innovation and social policy assessment and he has published his work on International Journal of Educational Research, The British Journal of Social Work and European Journal of Education, among other journals. He currently works as Vice-dean for International Relations at the Faculty of Economics and Business.

Jezabel Lucas-García

Jezabel Lucas-García holds a PhD in Sociology from University of Basque Country and she is a Lecturer at the Department of Sociology and Social Work of University of Valladolid (Spain). She is an expert on gender analysis, social work practice and social policy and she has published her work on several journals such as The British Journal of Social Work, Journal of Social Work, and European Journal of Education. She is currently the Coordinator of Social Work degree at the Faculty of Education and Social Work.