e-Professionalism and the Ethical Use of Technology in Social Work

This special issue of Australian Social Work focuses on the professional and ethical use of technology in social work, drawing together two strands of content that have been the subject of many articles in the journal over past decades. Ethics is integral to social work practice, research, and education, and most articles at some point make connections with ethical thought and the values on which the profession is founded. Ethics is infused through our literature in a way that strongly positions us to take a stance on many issues of importance. As a profession that has a moral compass attuned to emerging social issues that impact on our work with vulnerable individuals, groups, and communities, the consistent inclusion of ethics as an inherent part of our discourse and our pedagogy is one of social work’s greatest triumphs. It is on this basis that the eyes of social work have turned to the increasing impacts of technology as we have moved into the digital age, as it has threaded its way through our organisations, influencing service provision and policies, and providing both opportunities and challenges for education, practice, and research.

In an editorial written by Schembri in 2008, we were challenged to embrace Web2.0 and the range of emerging technologies such as podcasts, wikis, blogs, and Twitter, by the words “without immediate engagement, our profession risks becoming irrelevant and inaccessible”. It was a wake-up call for many who were secure in the land of Luddite, hoping that the digital revolution would pass over the top, have its day, and social work would return to the traditions of face-to-face communication, groups that meet together in real space and time in a physical venue, and social action that happened on the streets, people arm-in-arm, signatures on paper petitions, and photos to remain in albums, not sent to unknown destinations in cyberspace. Time has marched on, and in less than a decade since Schembri’s editorial we are immersed in a space and time where almost every major international social work journal has dedicated significant publication focus to how social work is engaging with technology, social media, digital communications, and virtual practice.

It is contested space, highlighting many challenges, most of them falling squarely within the realm of ethics. Those who have published in this journal in the area of social work and technology previously have taken a cautious approach; for example, Hayhoe and Dollard (2000, p. 27) concluded that social work educators would need to confront the challenges of imbuing students “with a humanist ethos rather than a mechanistic one while utilising technology in practice”. Humphries and Camilleri (2002, p. 251), in a study of Centrelink social workers, voiced concern that “social workers needed to be careful not to confuse means with ends when it comes to utilising technology as part of practice”. In the early days of development of online counselling in Relationships Australia, Hunt (2002) concluded that despite many concerns and lack of empirical research, such developments should be supported in the interests of service expansion and consumer demand. A decade later, an important article was published by Baker, Warburton, Hodgkin, and Pascal (2014) who provided a conceptual lens from Manuel Castells on the theory of the networked society, with a conclusion that

it appears that social work professionals have a significant role to play in the emerging culture of “real virtuality”  …  consider, for example, the likelihood of effective assessment in such a culture if a social worker does not include aspects of a person’s “networked life”. (p. 35)

We are now further advanced in our capacity to understand the implications of technology and the ethical standards that need to be put in place around practice to safeguard clients and practitioners. The last revision of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics (2010) resisted the urge to codify potential conducts that might relate in some way to inappropriate use of technology. Two insertions were included, one in S5.1.6c where it was stated:

social workers, not their clients or former clients, are responsible for setting and maintaining clear and appropriate professional boundaries in all forms of communication, including face to face contact, written communication, telephone and online communications (including social networking, email, blogging and instant messages).

The second insertion was a full section on Remote Service Delivery (5.5.4) covering responsibilities in use of computers and technology for online practice. Significant work was done on the development of ethical guidelines on social media, information and communication technology that are available on the AASW website to both members and non-members. It remains to be seen whether future versions of the AASW Code of Ethics will follow the US trend in clarifying and specifying in more detail the types of behaviours and conduct that breach acceptable ethical standards. This speaks to the concept of e-Professionalism and the need for social workers to focus on both their ethical and digital literacy so that they practise with integrity, reputations are safeguarded, and clients are not harmed by inappropriate use of technology (McAuliffe, 2014; Watling & Rogers, 2012).

In this special issue we have brought together a number of articles that explore the intersection between ethics and technology in social work practice, education, and research. Reamer expands on a well-cited article from 1998 on the evolution of social work values and ethics to explore the emerging range of ethical challenges raised by technology, highlighting the efforts that have been made in the US to reach consensus on appropriate ethical standards for social work in the digital age. He identifies the enormous complexity that surrounds the ethical issues that have been the focus of such discussion in literature over recent times. Boddy and Dominelli provide a conceptual focus on social media and through a case study argue that the discourses related to power, permanency, authorship, audience, and embodiment are important for critically reflective practice in online environments. Shevaller then shifts the gaze to community participation and the ethical implications of technology for community-based social workers. She highlights the importance for community-based social workers of being even more vigilant about dual relationships and boundary-crossing (issues also raised by Reamer in the clinical context), the importance of the notion of micromorality, and a broader ethical lens that cautions against seeing the new forms of participation as replacing place-based networks. Gillingham and Graham explore the world of “big data” and some of the ethical issues in using data from multiple databases across government and non-government agencies. They propose methodological standards and the development of a critical perspective to avoid serious errors in the interpretation and application of findings of research using big data. Three articles focus on the education context. Venville, Cleak, and Bould discuss how technology can be used in field education. In particular, they discuss the findings of research, which explores the value of e-Portfolios for recording evidence of student learning. Martin explores the implications of using virtual worlds in social work education. She examines how Second Life can be used to enhance interpersonal communication and provides some lessons for future applications in social work education. Goldingay and Boddy further the discussion about online learning in social work education, and the preparation needed to increase social presence and engagement in the online context. The final article, written by social work students and new graduates Beaumont, Chester, and Rideout, use two case studies to further explore the ethical issues related to technology from their unique perspectives. The articles in total cover macro to micro practice, education, conceptual theorising, and research.

A common theme that comes from these articles is the need for more research in this area, a theme that is echoed by Chan and Holosko (2016) in a recent scoping review of social media use in social work practice. Social work can learn much from other disciplines as we continue to grapple conceptually with new theories and ideas about technology engagement. The concept of “digital citizenship” emerged from education (Ribble, 2015) and provides an excellent framework for understanding the areas of knowledge that include nine themes that encourage individuals to respect self and others; educate self and connect with others; and protect self and others. Many of the ethical issues currently encountered in the practice environment are a result of poor knowledge about digital applications, legal parameters, and construction of self in an online environment.

This special issue signposts an important move forward, and highlights some of the questions that can set a research agenda into the next decade and beyond. How do social workers address the inequities in digital access, including generational, economic, cultural, and geographic factors that can result in the “digital divide” so often mentioned? What are the global implications of reliance on technology, and the political imperatives that drive issues of access? How can social workers better understand online commercial and financial transactions, online relationships, and protections under law for those who are victims of online fraud, cybercrime or cyberbullying? Is there a place for social work in consumer law reform, policy, and advocacy? How can social work harness social media for advocacy work and dissemination of research, and in what ways is social work actively contributing to empirical research? Are social workers sufficiently skilled in understanding the health and mental health impacts of technology and social media on individuals of all life stages, families, groups, and communities? How do social workers ensure that the “networked life” is incorporated as part of assessment in clinical practice? How does social work education prepare graduates for practice in a world that is increasingly dominated by technology, to ensure congruence when our core values are deeply rooted in connectedness, relationship, and reciprocity? It is hoped that this special issue will inspire more writing and research on these important questions.