Ethical Dilemmas Faced by Social Workers in the Context of Home Health Care Settings in Taiwan: Challenges and Solutions
The purpose of this paper is twofold: to examine the patterns of ethical dilemmas and to propose some solutions to those dilemmas. Home health care is one of the options in the Long-Term Care system for the dependent elderly and their family. It was made available only recently in Taiwan. In the last several years, home health care programs have expanded drastically. The expansion has been met with welcome within the profession. As more home health care aides are having contacts with the dependent elderly, some problems also arise. Many problems stem from the home care settings where the boundary of professional relationship is hard to maintain. Ethical issues are no exceptions. In order to improve service delivery, major problems in that setting require the attention from the profession. It is plausible to investigate the types of ethical issues and to propose solutions for each type.
12 home health care agencies are selected in the Metropolitan areas of Taipei, located in the northen part of Taiwan, for this study. A senior social worker from each agency will be identified for an in-depth interview. Interview questions focus on the type of ethical issues face each worker and the way she or he helps home health aides deal with them. The information collected will be coded and analyzed. Patterns of ethical dilemmas and solutions will be identified. Implications for social work practice will be drawn from the outcome of the study.