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Five ethical responsibilites of social worker
Core values of ethics for social workers paper
Importance of social work ethics to social work students
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1a) Social workers apply and communicate understanding of the importance of diversity and difference in shaping life experiences in practice at the micro, mezzo and macro levels In order to effectively accomplish this goal, a social worker must possess knowledge of the Social Systems Theory in which the social worker explores the interaction between the person and environment at the macro, mezzo, and micro levels. Many times, when it comes to diversity and difference, the beliefs and attitudes in the macro system trickle down to the mezzo system and in turn can affect the micro system. Following section 1.05 of the Code of Ethics, the responsibility to practice cultural awareness and social diversity, also is related to accomplishing …show more content…
He told me about how hard it is for him because his mother does not accept his sexuality. She calls him names and tells him he is a disgrace. We discussed how he handles his mother’s comments as well as the students who pick on him at school. He reported that he doesn’t do anything. We discussed what might happen if he was assertive in these situations. He felt that it might help but it is very hard for him to speak up for himself. We agreed that we will practice assertiveness skills in session so he can eventually try it on his own. Based on the systems theory, I explained how changing his behavior can change the behavior of the people he interacts …show more content…
It is our job to collect as much data as possible to about our clients and their environment before analyzing the information collected. It is also important to find out if clients feel oppression or marginalization in their lives. While it’s not a question on our intake form, it is a question I ask my clients. I find it very helpful to make a genogram, a timeline and an ecomap with my clients. I gain a lot of information during these activities. I have found this a challenging process in my field experience as I’m supposed to have the intake completed by the 3rd session and the goals by the 4th session. I feel like this doesn’t allow me enough time to thoroughly collect the information I need. I am finding that the information my clients share during the first 2 sessions changes as we build a better rapport and my clients feel more comfortable. 1(c) Social workers apply self-awareness and
The data provides culturally competent guidelines for social workers. The social worker must understand and appreciate diversity among and within cultures. They should be aware of the history, culture, and contemporary realities. They also must have good skills in patience, listening, and tolerance of silence. A social worker needs to be aware of their own biases and need for wellness and display humility and a willingness to learn. They need to be respectful, nonjudgemental, and openminded. However, researchers must find a way to measure cultural competence with studies that examine beliefs and evaluate actions of social workers. It should include several cultural groups.This will be highly important in building a knowledge base. Doing these studies there can be a better plan to include cultural competence and serve clients from different backgrounds a lot better.
Cultural Competence Understanding culture is an important aspect of being a social worker; this does not mean learning common cultural traits is of great significance to the social work profession. “Consider the second-generation Japanese-American social worker whose practice consists of Mexican-American and African-American families. Memorizing national traits or cultural rituals would be interesting and informative, but ultimately these would be an inaccurate basis on which to “know” these particular families” (Dorfman, 1996, p. 33). When understanding cultural competence, it is important to learn from the client about their culture in order to serve them in the most helpful and efficient way possible. There is a major drawback to memorizing information, and that is, this information will not give you a real understanding of who your client is and what life experiences they have personally faced.
As a social worker, the ability to merge cultural competencies with social work methods and theories allows intervention to be customized to meet their client’s need-based which vary upon culture. Since there are a massive amount of different cultures with different traditions, values, and beliefs the social worker needs to obtain the fundamentals of the culture in order to assess and advocate for the ethnic group effectively. The NASW of Ethics clearly values the competence and the Ethical Principle of Social workers practice within the areas of competence and enhances their professional expertise. In addition, “ Cultural competence is a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system or agency or among professionals and enable the system, agency, or professionals to work effectively in cross-cultural situations” (NASW, 2000b, p. 61). Cultural competency ensures that our primary mission of the social work profession to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed, and living in poverty.
In the social work practice, social workers should abide by and respect the protocol of their particular organization. The first ethical standard I would like to discuss is that a social worker has cultural competence and social (NASW, 1999). A social worker must possess the knowledge of values, customs, tradition and history, just to name a few, in order to have success with clients that may identify as something other than their own identity. Culture directly impacts human behavior. Within this case study, due to Mrs. Sanchez’s culture, she struggled to assimilate with the American culture and this included her being able to learn the English language.
I have grown to appreciate diversity and I seek out opportunities that will increase my competency in this area. While working with diverse populations I have learned that diversity represents individual and human differences that impact how we problem-solve, work, and learn. Often times we sum diversity into three main categories, race, gender and ethnicity; however, diversity is expanding and we must include all aspects of diversity. There are several factors that distinguishes us and the dimensions of diversity may be hidden or visible. They may remain constant or fluctuate as life changes and they may not be easily defined. Social workers must embrace diversity as well as its dimensions and understand that diversity is multidimensional.
Social Workers are very important to everyday life. They are the ones that help people in need when they have nobody else to turn too. Also, they provide resources and better understanding of predicaments that you could be experiencing. I will reflect on how the class has affected me, my own experiences and how some theories have connected to my life experiences, and lastly, if the class helped toward my major. This class is important for someone that wants to become a social worker and wants to learn about the different theories used. Also, learning about me during this process of completing this class is fun and a way to see if the social work profession is right for me. There was many theories explained throughout this class but many will not be said because it wasn’t the main points that I was trying to get across. There are two tools that are used that can help a social worker organize a client’s life: Bubble map and Briefcase exercise. There are so many different ways a social worker can help a client deal with their problems and come up with a solution. It is up to that social worker to identify the client’s problem and see what theory fits.
Ethics consists of factors such as culture, religion, and these continuously affect a person’s beliefs and ethics. As individuals continue to develop and adapt to different values and ethics. This is through past experiences and the expectations as our life pattern changes. Core values in social work practice are the code of ethics, informing our understanding of the difference and diversity. The social work profession is evaluated by a whole set of guidelines, measures put in place by regulatory bodies, allowing the movement to put in place new governmental laws and guides within this field.
Theory is defined as “…”. In the social work profession, it is not enough to just understand the definition of theory, but rather be able to integrate theory into practice when working to plan interventions at multiple practice levels. This integration of theory into the social work practice is an emphasis of the profession as noted in the profession’s core competencies. Core competency 2.1.6 “engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research” (NASW code of ethics) is the basis for theory integration within the social work profession. The profession’s practice behaviors state that social workers must “use research evidence to inform practice” (NASW code of ethics). In other words, social workers should “attend to findings
A social worker must present themselves as a learner and understand clients from all experts of their own experiences. To show your respect to the clients as a social worker you must be able to show that you understand complexity of cultural identity. Cultural competence targets social workers knowledge of development, focusing on culturally specific demographics, characteristics, values, and intravenous technique. When dealing with cultural sensitivity a worker’s genuine appreciation of the client’s uniqueness and universalistic respect for the client’s humanness is needed. To have success in multicultural practice, cultural responsiveness come in to play, which means to be culturally responsive, social workers use dialogue skills that place the client’s construction of reality at the center of the
Social work practice requires many skills, which need much practice themselves. This needs social work students to be open to trying within safe environments and scenario’s for mistake, such as with their peers and with emotional safe scenarios such as stress at University. This begins with a requirement to do 5 minutes of interviewing with a peer which includes many social work skills such as active listening, encouraging, paraphrasing, being/creating a welcoming and safe environment and other such basic and beginning skills.
Developing an understating of my role as a student social worker and what I will be required to do after qualifying.
It is imperative that social workers become knowledgeable about their clients’ cultures and are culturally sensitive. In learning about their clients’ cultures, social workers need to be aware of how powerful and significant culture is in relating to clients’ behavior, values, and beliefs. Becoming culturally competent requires the ability to integrate awareness, knowledge, and skills while maintaining a positive working relationship with the client (Sue and Zane, 1987). Today, the concerns regarding cultural competency continue to accentuate the importance of preparing social workers for a diversified society.
As a social worker, when assessing clients it is important to look at how social systems directly impact every aspect of their ecosystem. This can be done by looking at every level. According to Turner (1974), there are two major levels to observe, which includes micro and macro. These levels of social work practice overlay and affect each other, so it is important to understand how each level directly impacts a person. While assessing an individual’s environment the information assessed includes family structure, boundaries, roles changes and environmental supports. An individual’s environment is always changing and because of this, every aspect of the ecosystem can change. This paper will look at how completing an MSW program impacts my ecosystem at a micro and macro level.
Because of this idea, as a future social worker, it provides an explanation of why clients act a certain way because of their environment. For instance, a mother could decide to be a sex worker because she needs to find a way to feed her children. However, social workers must then find her other resources, in order to “enhance human well-being and help meet the basic needs of all people” (NASW Code of Ethics). This idea of looking at a client’s environment is also mentioned in a scholarly British article, written by David Green and Fiona McDermott (2011) that state that "[p]erson-in-environment begins from a position that recognises the interdependence of phenomena in affecting, changing and sustaining human life. Such phenomena are conceptualised as if they occur and operate on different ‘levels’—micro, meso, macro—in attempts to categorise and account for the complexity within which social and human life exists and to which social and human life contributes" (p. 2416-2417). Both authors provide an explanation of how factors can play in clients’ lives and consequently effect everything
Social Workers shall develop an understanding of their own personal and cultural values and beliefs as a first step in appreciating the importance of multicultural identities in the lives of people…Cultural competence includes knowing and acknowledging how fears, ignorance, and the “isms” (racism, sexism, ethnocentrism, heterosexism, ageism, classism) have influenced their attitudes, beliefs, and feelings. (citation)