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Social Work

Ethics in Social Work

Scope

"Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct. The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve." (National Association of Social Workers, 2021)

Selected Books

The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Ethics and Values

 The Routledge Handbook of Social Work Ethics and Values is a comprehensive exploration and assessment of current and future issues facing social work practice and education.

Practical Social Work Ethics: Complex Dilemmas Within Applied Social Care

This is the first text of its kind to deal exclusively with applied social work ethics. It focuses on an eclectic mix of difficult moral questions or issues encountered in much modern day practice.

The Social Work Ethics Casebook: Cases and Commentary

This book’s realistic ethics cases provide a useful tool for discussing ethical dilemmas and ethical decision making

Practicing Social Work Ethics Around the World: Cases and Commentaries

This book takes as its starting point real life cases featuring ethical problems in the areas of: negotiating roles and boundaries, respecting rights, being fair, challenging and developing organisations and working with policy and politics.

Social Work Values and Ethics

This book provides social workers with a succinct and comprehensive overview of the most critical issues relating to professional values and ethics, including the nature of social work values, ethical dilemmas, and professional misconduct.

Recommended Scholarly Journals

Scholarly Journals contain academic articles, these are often reports on original research, theoretical, experimental or applied. Many are refereed/peer-reviewed.

Finding Journal Articles

Below are a list of databases for the topic of human resources management. Try all of them to see different results.

Journal articles can be useful sources of information for almost any subject area. They contain current information or research, and are usually written on specific aspects of a topic.

Use research databases to search for articles on a specific topic. Databases can be accessed from off campus by current UFV students and employees.

Not all journals are created equal, and not all will be appropriate for every research need. These are the most common types of journals you are likely to encounter in your research, presented in order from most to least academic or scholarly:

  • Scholarly Journals: reports of original research, theoretical, experimental or applied; many are refereed/peer-reviewed
  • Trade/Professional Journals: current trends, news & events in a particular field; some are peer-reviewed
  • Journals of Commentary or Opinion: commentary on political & social issues; often source of specific political viewpoint, e.g., conservative, liberal, or specific interest group
  • Newspapers: current information, news stories; local & regional focus
  • Popular Magazines: current events & news; primary source for popular culture

References

National Association of Social Workers. (2021). Code of ethics. https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

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