PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND VALUES IN HUMAN SERVICES

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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND VALUES IN HUMAN SERVICES

• DR. SAODAH BINTI AHMAD
• JABATAN PEMBANGUNAN MANUSIA DAN PENGAJIAN
  KELUARGA, FEM

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INTRODUCTION

• What is Values?
• What is Morals?
• What is Ethics?

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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REFLECTION...
SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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INTRODUCTION

• All professional organizations, representing
  licensed and unlicensed staff, have established
  ethics codes.
• They are public statements that set clear
  expectations. They guide practice and uphold the
  key values of that profession or discipline.
  (Mohr Nunno, 2007)
• They are broad and general not cookbooks for
  responsible behavior.
• (Corey, Corey, Callahan, 2003)

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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ETHICS

• A set of moral principles or values principles
  of conduct governing an individual or a group (as
  in professional ethics), and a guiding
  philosophy. (Merriam-Webster, 1993)
• Ethical principles form moral choices as persons
  act as moral agents.
• Ethical standards are based on a foundational
  value system designed to tell us the difference
  between good and bad behavior.
• Another more basic way of putting it is that
  ethical standards and principles tell us what we
  ought to do in any given situation.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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MORALS/MORALITY

• Morals encompasses the individuals evaluation of
  what is right and wrong.
• Morality implies a sense of obligation toward
  standards share by a social collective.
• Morality includes a concern for the welfare of
  others.
• Morality includes a sense of responsibility for
  acting on ones concern for others.
• Morality includes a concern for the rights of
  others.
• Morality includes a commitment to honesty as
  norm.
• Breach of morality provokes perturbing judgmental
  and emotional responses.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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MORAL RELATIVISM

• Absolutism vs. Relativism
• Consider context when evaluating rightness and
  wrongness of behavior
• Culture
• Generation (i.e., age)
• Personal value system
• Consider effect of emotional desires on ethical
  and moral behavior.
• What happens when there is a tug-of-war between
  ethical standards and emotional desires or
  feelings?
• Competing values.
• What do we do when our values collide?

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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DEVELOPMENT OF MORAL REASONING

• Kohlbergs Stages of Moral Development (1976)
• Based on Piagets Cognitive Development Theory.
• Cognitive-developmental approaches to moral
  development.
• People go through stages in development of their
  ability to reason morally.
• 6 stages of moral development associated with
  changes in the individuals intellectual
  development - morality is considered to change
  through personal development.
• Moral reasoning is significantly linked with age,
  IQ, education and SES (Colby et al, 1983).

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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CONTINUE...KOHLBERGS FINDINGS

• The stages of moral reasoning are similar for all
  persons regardless culture.
• Progress from one stage to another.
• Changing from stage to stage is gradual.
• Some individuals move more rapidly than others
  through the sequence of stages.
• Although the particular stage of moral reasoning
  is not the only factor affecting peoples moral
  conduct, the way they reason does influence how
  they actually behave in a moral situation.
• Experience that provide opportunities for role
  taking foster progress through the stages.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

• Professional ethics are at the core of social
  work. The profession has an obligation to
  articulate its basic values, ethical principles,
  and ethical standards.
• Codes are meant to assist the staff person in
  making decisions, in other words to guide
  professional judgments regarding their
  practice.

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CONTINUE

• Ethical Standards of Human Service Professionals
  includes all staff who work in human service
  settings, including those who are unlicensed.
• Unlicensed/non-certified staff generally include
  Bachelor level prepared staff who work in social
  work or rehab positions, case managers, and
  mental health technicians.
• However, all staff practices are important.

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CONTINUE

• Ethical codes are not legal documents but they
  are a component of the expected standard of care.
• They are often used to assisting legal decisions
  related to human service worker behavior.
• They help guide treatment decision making and
  protect against future harm or difficulty.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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PURPOSE OF ETHICS CODES

• To safeguard the welfare of clients by providing
  what is in their best interests.
  
• 1. To educate professionals about sound
  ethical conduct.
• 2. To provide a way to assure professional
  accountability.
• 3. To serve to improve practices.
• (Corey, Corey, Callahan, 2003)
• Meant to protect vulnerable individuals from
  incompetent or dangerous people who are in
  powerful positions and who can cause harm.
• (Mohr Nunno, 2007)

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HUMAN SERVICES PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS

• Responsibilities to clients.
• Responsibilities to society.
• Responsibilities to colleagues.
• Responsibilities to the Profession.
• Responsibilities to employer and self.
• (Codes of
  Ethics, 2004)

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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GUIDING PRINCIPLES IN ETHICS

• Integrity
• Objectivity
• Professional Confidence
• Confidentiality
• Professional Behavior
• Technical Standards

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NASW ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

• CORE VALUE Service
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE to help people in
  need and to address social problems.
• CORE VALUE Social Injustice
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE challenge social
  injustice.
• CORE VALUE Dignity and worth of all person.
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE respect the inherent
  dignity and worth of the person.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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NASW ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

• CORE VALUE Importance of human relationship.
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE recognize the central
  importance of human relationship.
• CORE VALUE Integrity
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE behaves in trustworthy
  manner.
• CORE VALUE Competence
• ETHICAL PRINCIPLE practice within their
  areas of competence and develop and enhance their
  professional expertise.

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ETHICAL DILEMMA

• Absolutism vs. Relativism
• Consider context when evaluating rightness and
  wrongness of behavior
• Culture
• Generation (i.e., age)
• Personal value system
• Consider effect of emotional desires on ethical
  and moral behavior.
• What happens when there is a tug-of-war between
  ethical standards and emotional desires or
  feelings?
• Competing values.
• What do we do when our values collide?

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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ETHICAL DILEMMAS WHAT YOU DO IN THOSE STICKY
SITUATIONS?
SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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ETHICAL DILEMMAS WHICH ONE?
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HOW DO YOU DECIDE? WHOSE JUDGMENT IS RIGHT?
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ETHICAL DILLEMAS THE APPROACHES

• There are two major approaches that philosophers
  use in handling ethical dilemmas
• One is to focus on the practical consequences of
  what we do.
• The other focuses on the actions themselves and
  weighs the rightness of the action alone.
• The first school of thought argues that if there
  is no harm, there is no foul.
• The second claims that some actions are simply
  wrong in and of themselves.

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HOW TO RESOLVE?

• Kitcheners Model (1994) four assumptions that
  need to be at the heart of any ethical
  evaluation.
• Beneficence
• Autonomy
• Justice
• Non-malfeasance

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KITCHENERS MODEL

• Beneficence our human duty to assist another in
  need and to facilitate a good outcome. It speaks
  to preventing harm to another person.
• Autonomy the right to liberty without
  interference the right to make personal
  decisions and act on them without being coerced
  or manipulated.
• Justice giving others their due, assuring
  fairness, equal distribution of resources, and
  appropriately providing what is owed to a person
  in any circumstance.
• Non-malfeasance to do no harm, prevent harm,
  remove harm and facilitate good. Do not kill, do
  not cause pain, do not cause offense, do not
  deprive others .

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STEPS IN SOLVING ETHICAL DILLEMAS

• Recognize the Ethical Issue
• Get the Facts
• Relevant Facts
• Individuals and groups with an important stake in
  decision
• What are the options for acting?
• Evaluate Alternative Actions
• Make a Decision and Test It
• Act and Reflect the Outcomes

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CULTURAL INFLUENCES ON THE PERCEPTION OF ETHICAL
BEHAVIOUR

• Model of ethical decision making that stresses
  the importance of being culturally sensitive.
  (Garcia Cartwright, Winston and Borzuchowska,
  2003).
• Challenged the notion that all cultures value
  autonomy equally as many cultures operate on a
  very interdependent basis.
• Cautioned that what one culture considers
  abnormal, another culture considers perfectly
  normal.

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM
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ETHICAL STANDARDS IN HUMAN SERVICES AND OTHER
RELATED FIELD

• National Organization for Human Services Ethical
  Standards
• National Association of Social Workers (NASW)
  Code of Ethics
• American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of
  Ethic

SAODAH AHMAD G0521898
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REFLECTION...
Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) Says You cannot
treat people by means of your wealth hence, you
should treat them by means of your moral conduct.
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REFLECTION...

• Always do right
• this will gratify some
• and astonish the rest .
• (Mark Twain, 190I)
• When I do good, I feel good,
• When I do bad I feel bad,
• Thats my religion. (Abraham Lincoln)

SAODAH BINTI AHMAD, JPMPK, FEM