Professional Standards and Ethical Conduct: A National Study of Attitudes and Behaviour in Social Work Practice
Social workers employed in both government and community-based human service agencies operate within an emerging litigious climate where action on violation of practice standards and ethical misconduct is likely to become more commonplace. An increasingly cynical public expects clarification of professional standards and ethical responsibilities, and these expectations are fuelled by allegations of negligence, abuse, malpractice and misappropriation by those working on the front-lines of human services. To date, there has been no research in the Australian context to indicate social worker’s attitudes about contentious practice issues, and no exploration of what behaviours are considered to constitute unethical practice. There has also been no study that has explored what behaviours social workers may have engaged in that could, in the current climate, be considered unethical. This paper presents preliminary data from a National survey of Australian social workers (to be conducted in the first part of 2004), in part replicating the National Study on Practice Standards conducted in the United States in 1996 (Jayaratne, Croxton & Mattison 1997). The study focuses on the domains of intimate relationships, dual relationships, mixed modalities, advice-giving, boundary behaviours, and financial transactions. The significance of this research is that lack of clarity about ethical responsibilities presents a degree of risk for clients/consumers of services, for employing organisations, and for workers who may stand accused of ethical breaches. This study aims to explore these contentious issues in Australian social work in more depth, so that the national picture can inform debates about registration, ethics training, and continuing professional education.