Ethical Dilemmas in the Fieldwork Training of Social Work Students

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate social work students are exposed to ethical and legal dilemmas during their fieldwork training. This article presents a study that examined these ethical dilemmas in an Israeli sample of undergraduate social work students. 117 students who participated in a course in ethics submitted 31 written presentations of ethical-dilemma analysis. Their oral presentations were recorded and transcribed. Using a qualitative analysis, three major themes emerged: 1. The tension between the duty to maintain client's confidentiality and its violation under certain conditions; 2. The students’ conflict of loyalty toward the client vs. the organization; 3. The question of the clients’ right to self-determination when, in the student's view, this is against their best interests.

Our findings point to the vital role of an ethics course in the social work undergraduate curriculum that can enhance students’ knowledge of specific laws relevant to the limits of confidentiality in social work and their ability to analyze ethical dilemmas as future professionals. Furthermore, it is essential to raise awareness in educators and supervisors concerning moral distress that may afflict students coping with ethical dilemmas at this early professional developmental phase.

KEYWORDS:

• Confidentiality
• developmental context
• ethical dilemma
• legal

Disclosure statement

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

Ethics committee approval

Tel Hai Academic College #12/2018-1 from December 24, 2018.

Notes

1 In Israel, the eligibility to apply for registration as an accredited social worker and to practice the profession of social work is open only to college or university graduates with a bachelor's degree from a school of social work in Israel or abroad recognized by law of the Council for Higher Education.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Gender Equity Unit at Tel Hai Academic college.

Notes on contributors

Michal Segal

Michal Segal is an attorney specializing in Human Rights and a lecturer at the Social Work Department at Tel Hai College, Israel. Among her specialties are Law and Ethic, Legal Aspects of Social Work and Policy Practice in Social Work.

Maya Peled-Avram

Maya Peled-Avram is a faculty member of the Social Work Department at Tel Hai Academic college, Israel and the Head of Trauma and Resilience studies in the master's program. She is a clinical social worker, supervisor and psychotherapist in a private practice, specializing in the treatment of trauma survivor.