Ethics in the Work of a Social Worker

Various sciences examine human beings, interpersonal relations, and human activity. Ethics is also one of the sciences about human beings, more precisely one of the philosophical disciplines that studies human behavior and morality and seeks to lead people toward the good. In essence, ethics searches for a general principle that would show people what they should do, what they should strive for in life, and how they should behave toward others. A social worker who is in contact with people is no exception. This is a person who works every day, communicating with people, where social sensitivity, adherence to ethics, empathy, and active listening are sometimes the only things that can be provided.

Strieženec (2001, p. 57) characterizes the ethics of social work as follows: “it analyzes the general laws of the development of moral and ethical relations and ideas, forms of moral consciousness and the activity of people regulated by them. Social work is based on the laws examined by ethics, while it solves a practical task - it removes and softens social conflicts into which people have fallen through their own fault or through no fault of their own. Several prominent authors have dealt with the definition of social work, whose individual definitions differed and could not characterize social work uniformly in terms of its dimensions and emphases: Alica Masaryková (1928) conceived social work “as something different from charitable benevolence, it is purposeful work, systematic difficult work, which, if it is to be conscientious work, should lead to a goal and requires a whole and determined person willing to help.” (Haburajová - Ilavská, 2006, p. 12).

Part of a harmoniously developing communication between two actors (the social worker and the client) is also the application of principles and norms of ethics. Everyone wants to be treated politely, to be trusted, to be treated considerately, kindly, and seriously. “Social work is based on the laws examined by ethics, while it solves practical tasks - it removes and softens social conflicts into which people have fallen through their own fault or through no fault of their own.” (Strieženec, 2001, p. 97)

In the contribution titled “Ethics in the Work of a Social Worker,” we also want to point out the differences that appear in the actual reality of social work practice. Our examination of the real situation took place at three Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family - Employment Department. The aim was to obtain perspectives from both involved parties: social worker versus client. The independence of social workers is essential in practice. Every day they come into contact with individual cases, the solution of which is not offered by a norm or regulation, but requires their own decision. It often happens that a social worker or a client deals with some personal problems and at the same time does not realize that failure and nervousness are transferred to the workplace as well. The duty of social workers should be to develop their own abilities and work on eliminating professional uncertainties, which are a natural part of problematic situations arising as a result of turbulent changes. According to Haburajová Ilavská (2007, p. 16), today we have qualified social workers who perform their work at a high professional level. A professional knows that this alone can have a relaxing, therapeutic, healing, caring, and problem-dissolving effect.

A social worker comes into frequent and especially close contact with people, because most problems and tasks are solved on an interpersonal level. The role of the social worker often requires quick and correct decision-making, personal commitment in solving clients' problems, emotional balance, theoretical and practical erudition, and of course adherence to ethics. The way the social worker acts toward the client, the tone of voice chosen, or how they try to help the client influences the overall atmosphere. Good or bad behavior usually elicits feedback. Citing Barker, Mátel (2010, p. 90) defines a “professional not only as an individual who has obtained authorization for a specific profession (social work), but also as someone who uses knowledge, training, and skills in providing social services to clients while always observing the relevant values and ethical code.”

For the achievement of effective social benefit to be truly successful, it is necessary to acquire knowledge or skills through training. Vajda (1995) states that life changes are so rapid that during one’s life a person must retrain several times. Education and self-education therefore belong to the basic rights of a person, but even more to their basic duties toward themselves and society.

At present, many training teams are underway, trying to help society move forward. Almost every team deals with the concept of effective communication and influence on the client. New insights from professionally led training only bring their benefits over time.

Adherence to ethics is therefore still a current problem in any workplace, one that cannot be solved overnight. We ourselves were able to confirm the importance of observing ethical principles in the performance of social work in the survey. The results were varied and often pointed to the behavior of both involved parties. Strieženec (2001, p. 96) characterizes “ethics as a set of rules of social behavior related to external expression, relations toward people (overall behavior toward others, forms of communication such as forms of address, greetings, behavior in public, dressing, manners, etc.)”

In his book Umění pomáhat, Úlehla (1999, p. 113) used a beautiful statement that conceals great wisdom and, in our opinion, best captures the inner state of every person: “What relationships we have with ourselves, such we have with clients.”

Professional social workers strive to contribute to the achievement of people's well-being and self-realization and to the development of human behavior and its subsequent disciplined use. Social work uses the theoretical conclusions of ethics and data from social psychology for a deep understanding of socio-psychological processes in the life of the individual and the group in relation to the social environment. (Strieženec, 1996. p. 57) Based on the International Declaration of Ethical Principles of Social Work, the social worker is obliged to recognize the following standards and norms for the appearance and behavior of a social worker (Žilová, 2000, p. 110):

• “Appearance. The social worker continually maintains their personal work behavior and appearance at a high standard.
• Abilities and professional growth. The social worker makes every effort to achieve and maintain a high level of professionalism in the performance of their work.
• Service. In their work, the social worker considers service to be the primary commitment.
• Integrity. The social worker acts in accordance with the highest requirements of professional honor.
• Study and scientific research. A social worker engaged in study or scientific research follows the conventions of scientific work.
• Primacy of the client's interests. Responsibility first and foremost to the social client.
• Client rights. The social worker makes every effort to support the client’s attempt to decide about their future independently as much as possible.
• Confidentiality and secrecy. The social worker respects the client’s privacy and keeps confidential the information obtained in their work.
• Fee. When determining the amount of the fee, the social worker must ensure that its amount is reasonable and proportionate to the services provided, and when deciding, takes the client's financial situation into account.
• Politeness and courtesy. The social worker values their colleagues and approaches them with respect and trust.
• Work with colleagues' clients. It is the social worker’s duty to devote themselves to their colleagues’ clients with the greatest professional effort and sensitivity.
• Obligations to employer organizations. The social worker takes obligations toward employer organizations seriously.
• Maintaining the honor of the profession. The social worker maintains and highlights the ethical values, professional knowledge, and mission of their profession.
• Service to the community. The social worker supports the effort of the professional community to make its services available to the widest public.
• Development of knowledge. The social worker strives to acquire and develop professional knowledge and apply it in professional practice.
• Promotion of the general welfare. The social worker supports the general welfare of society.

In addition to the skills and attitudes themselves, the professionalism of a social worker also includes ethical principles that the social worker must observe in their work. In practice, these are considered a basic prerequisite for the social worker's success in their activity.

According to Žilová, the most fundamental ethical principles in social work include:

• autonomy - means respect for the client as an independent, self-sufficient, and independent personality. First and foremost, it involves respecting their free decision-making, providing personal (discreet) information, accepting the proposed procedures and measures in addressing a social problem, etc. It also involves perceiving and respecting the client's responsibility for their own decisions, behavior, attitudes, etc.
• beneficence - means usefulness, benevolence, advantage, or support for the client. The social client should benefit maximally from the actions of the social worker. Of course, this can be achieved on the assumption that valid legislative norms, traditions, customs, and other cultural attributes are respected. In the event that the effect of benefit has ceased, it is necessary to talk to the client about this fact - explain it and try to seek another, new solution, for example in cooperation with another expert or institution in the field of care for people.
• discretion - this involves keeping confidential information secret. The social worker is bound by confidentiality toward the client regarding facts, the client's behavior, testimonies, and circumstances about which they have no right to speak. It is most appropriate to follow the principle that information about the client may be provided to other organizations, institutions, or persons only with the client's consent, unless a court or the law states otherwise. Of course, a different course of action is chosen if we learn from the social client facts about their, even if only possible, criminal activity, or a threat to the health, life, or safety of other citizens. In such a case, the social worker has the duty to report the fact to the relevant institutions.
• affection - is an internal, personal trait of the social worker, which they convey to the client dependent on help through verbal, but especially nonverbal, manifestations, that the client can trust the social worker, that they can feel safe and secure with them, and that the social client is accepted into their care as they are, with all strengths and shortcomings, whether physical, psychological, or social disadvantages.
• respect - is another moral value that the social worker must apply in relation to the social client. We can express it, for example, through fairness and equality toward all social clients, especially regardless of their mental, racial, physical, religious, or other differences. We also express it through tact, courtesy, and politeness.
• politeness - is the mindset of a person always prepared for certain sacrifices and certain self-denial required by our relationship with our fellow human being.
• By courtesy we mean the deliberate and intentional limiting of oneself and adapting to the recognized rules, values, and norms in a given society, community, or group.
• tact - to show it means to sense in advance how and what will affect whom. It is a measure of courtesy, an inherent human trait that can also be cultivated.
• considerateness - is a moral quality by which we express our relationship to the social client. This trait requires the social worker to be interested in the needs of social clients, their wishes, and their requests. The social worker should try to notice the clients' interests and problems and enable their realization, or help solve them or at least mitigate them. This requires the social worker to listen to the clients' thoughts while perceiving their feelings at the same time.
• responsibility - is a category of ethics that characterizes the relationship of the individual to society. An expression of responsibility is, for example, also keeping promises, agreements, etc. It is also the responsible approach of the social worker to their own work, to providing adequate and most appropriate services to the social client in the required extent, quality, and at an appropriate and specified time. But it is also the quality of the social worker's approach to the material values of the facility or institution where they provide social assistance.” (Žilová, 2000, pp. 106, 108)

Findings from the survey

The survey questions were also based on ethical principles, through which we wanted to determine the real situation at three workplaces of the Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family - Employment Department in Slovakia. The findings from the conducted survey point to the need to perform social work by qualified social workers. The profession of social workers in the Offices of Labour, Social Affairs and Family - Employment Department is mostly carried out by people who do not have education in the field of social work. We believe that unqualified social workers lack social-psychological training, courses, seminars, and training focused on psychology - empathy, social work, and communication with the client, which are necessary for performing such a profession. According to Budá (1994, p. 63), “empathy - with regard to its psychological nature - is a refined and applied ability to understand and become aware of nonverbal communication and metacommunication.”

In the conducted survey, social workers pointed to the fact that the workplace lacks the possibility of submitting comments, suggestions, or proposals to improve the effectiveness of their work. Professional meetings are not only about new laws in workplaces where work with people is performed, but should also include the solution of other matters, for example ethical problems that arise in work with people and require a solution. The economic crisis also caused the narrowing of positions for social workers in the public sector, which led to a redistribution of the increasing number of clients and thus a great administrative burden. The need to create conditions for hiring a larger number of social workers is essential. Eliminating a large number of clients per social worker removes unnecessary nervousness not only among clients in the corridors of the employment departments, but also among the social workers themselves. This could achieve better-quality assistance for the client.

Clients pointed out to us the fact that it is unpleasant for them when they have to confide in the social worker in front of another social worker and fellow clients in the same room.

“Communication is based on a relationship of mutual trust” (Carnegie, 2000, p. 39). We asked social workers whether they really sit in one room with a colleague or with several colleagues. The survey brought answers that offices often have small rooms where two to three workers are placed in cramped conditions, and unnecessarily large rooms are used for sporadic meetings. These could also be converted into two offices, where the effect of discretion and a confidential atmosphere in working with the client would be achieved. Listening to the requests of the social workers themselves or their clients at work is beneficial for the future, because it is precisely in practice that one encounters the advantages and disadvantages of a functioning process.

Silence, or discretion, is one of the components that a social worker should observe toward the client. Mutual trust between the social worker and the client is also based on confidentiality. Through the survey, we found that only a small portion of clients thought that their social worker speaks further about their problem, which is a valuable indicator, but everyone should be convinced of it.

Nervousness, bad mood, and private problems are components that often reflect in communication as well. These factors affect not only the behavior of the social worker, but also the client. The answers obtained in the survey from social workers largely pointed to the possibility of “sometimes,” which meant that they are unable to detach themselves from the mentioned factors.

The following question concerned the finding of the personal zone between the social worker and the client. The first meeting of the social worker with the client is a decisive factor for the further functioning of cooperation. The impression left by the social worker's behavior on the client is very important, because it determines the development of cooperation and the client's determination to solve the problem. In the following example, we point to the manner of seating when working with the client. Not only communication itself influences the client, but also the furnishing of the work environment.

The task of the social workers was to choose the option that best characterizes them in the manner of arranging seating with the client.

What do you think is the most effective seating arrangement when working with a client?

The answers we obtained most often pointed to seating arrangement “C”. Option “A” was marked only rarely. “B” and “D” were not marked by any of the social workers.

The most effective seating arrangement is “A”. This option is the most favorable position, in which the atmosphere is friendly and relaxed.

Description of the individual seating arrangements (Škvareninová, 2004).

When determining knowledge of nonverbal communication, the social workers had no problem with the answers. The answers obtained in the survey from clients expressed a positive relationship to the social worker, which greatly pleased us. What was perhaps surprising was the finding that clients perceived the social worker as someone who looks only at the computer, does not notice them, and asks them only questions. Even such a warning is beneficial as something to emphasize and work on.

Jankovský (2003) emphasized that from the perspective of the performance of helping professions, so-called nonverbal communication is of extraordinary importance. In social psychology, it is traditionally stated that what we convey in metacommunication is expressed by the communication diagram in %:

In the contribution, we pointed out some ethical principles and their importance in communication with the client. We want to point out that not only the social worker perceives the signals of verbal and nonverbal communication, but the client is also a living link who feels, perceives, and forms their own judgment about further cooperation. The aim was also to find out how ethics is observed in practice. Through questions directed at social workers, we came to the finding that ethical principles are observed in practice, which is a basic prerequisite for a well-functioning relationship between social worker and client.

Author: Mgr. Daniela BAKOVÁ Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra

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The lecture was delivered at the international scientific conference Applied Ethics in Social Work and Other Helping Professions, which took place on 20-21 October 2010 in Piešťany and was published in the proceedings from this conference: MÁTEL, A. – SCHAVEL, M. – MÜHLPACHR, P. – ROMAN, T. 2010. Aplikovaná etika v sociálne práci a ďalších pomáhajúcich profesiách. Proceedings from the international scientific conference. Bratislava : VŠZaSP sv. Alžbety. 413 s. ISBN 978-80-89271-89-4.

Professional discussions on this topic: Discussion on the Code of Ethics for Social Workers