‘Shades of Grey’: The Ethics of Social Work Practice in Relation to Un-prescribed Anabolic Androgenic Steroid Use

Abstract

This paper reflects on some of the ethical dilemmas that social workers face when assessing risk in relation to those using substances. It explores how legislation and societal factors can impact not just on people’s choices and decisions but also on their ‘vulnerability’ and access to services. Vulnerability, a contested term, is linked, in this paper, to assessment of risk. There are ethical issues that arise when assessing risk with people who use Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) from both service user and professional perspectives. These ethical issues concern a person’s right to choose and make potentially harmful decisions. The paper argues that using substances such as AAS in and of itself does not suffice to make a person vulnerable but this does not mean that people using AAS are not in need of support. It suggests that there may be some groups of people who are more at risk to starting AAS use and that social workers should be aware of these. It also recommends the need for further qualitative research to understand the reasons for starting use and support to help people stop using AAS.

Keywords:

• Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS)
• Image and Performance Enhancing Drugs (IPED)
• social work
• substance use
• ethics
• vulnerability
• body image
• media
• legislation
• risk

Acknowledgements

Dr. Margarete Parrish – Bournemouth University. Professor Jonathan Parker – Bournemouth University.

Disclosure Statement

This author has no competing interests.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Orlanda Harvey

Orlanda Harvey (MA) is a PhD student within the Faculty of Health and Social Sciences at Bournemouth University with a research interest in image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use. After spending 17 years in leadership and management training, she recently requalified as a Social Worker and became interested in IPED use after working with an Addiction Community Team. As a result, her MA dissertation focused on identifying what Social Workers need to know about people who chose to use IPED. Her PhD research is a mixed methods study into anabolic androgenic steroid (AAS) use and aims to explore and describe how AAS use contributes to specific behavioural issues and what AAS users perceive as the barriers to and opportunities for accessing support services. She is interested in the practice implications for social work and related inter-professional teams working in services that offer support to people who use AAS. Correspondence to: Orlanda Harvey, Bournemouth University, Lansdowne Campus, Royal London House, 109 Christchurch Road, Bournemouth BH1 3LT, United Kingdom. Email: [email protected]