An Exploratory Study Examining Instructional Decisions, Strategies, and Ethics in Social Work Education

Social workers make difficult decisions every day and must do so in keeping with professional ethical standards. This exploratory study examined the types of instructional strategies used to teach social work ethics and ethical decision-making along with the topics of ethics instruction. Using a mixed-methods approach, social work students, educators, and practitioners identified instructional strategies and ethics related topics addressed in social work education. Respondents identified lectures and analysis of ethical dilemmas as the top two instructional strategies. Common ethics related topics among all respondents included boundaries/dual relationships, confidentiality and privacy, as well as sexual relationships with clients. Likewise, respondents indicated confidence in their ability to identify and respond to ethics related issues in practice. Only a minority of respondents indicated that previous training or education was used as a resource to resolve ethical dilemmas. Topics related to social media, technology, and challenges dealing with employers and colleagues were lacking from ethics instruction. Ethics education should include a variety of proven instructional strategies to ensure social workers have the requisite skill and knowledge to resolve ethical dilemmas in practice. Moreover, the complexity of ethical issues and topics of instruction should reflect the nuances of contemporary practice. More research is needed to explore instructional strategies such as think aloud protocols to analyze how social workers resolve ethical dilemmas.