Sweden (english version)

Akademikerforbundet SSR, Sweden

This document indicates the importance of ethics in professional social work. It presents an introductory overview of contextual aspects and suggests a number of ethical guidelines for social work professionals.
From the background presented in the preface the text goes on to include commentaries on several aspects of professional ethics, proceeding from the starting point that ethical considerations and values are an essential part of human existence. Important ethical questions in social work are indicated and an ethical foundation for social work outlined. There is also some discussion of how the guidelines can be applied or supplemented with other ethical assessment models.
One objective of this document is to call attention to important ethical aims and to clarify some of the ethical complications in social work. The document is also intended to contribute to the development of the profession through stimulating reflection and discussion.
These ethical guidelines for social workers do not provide a complete set of regulations so much as point up a general direction for professional behaviour, to serve as a guide where difficult choices have to be made.
Different expressions are used to denote the persons encountered in social work. These expressions vary with the context and character of the measures taken, regarding for example students, patients, clients, guests and users. Throughout this document, ‘client’ is used as a general term.
These ethical guidelines were drawn up by the Ethical Council of the Swedish Association of Persons Accredited in Social Science, Personnel and Public Administration, Economics and Social Work (Akademikerförbundet SSR) and were adopted by the Association Board in January 1997.1)

Ethics in social work

The basis and importance of value judgements

Ethical assessments and reflections are an inherent part of the human environment. Humankind has an ethical inclination. Our reactions, thoughts and actions are partly dictated by moral considerations.
A genuinely ethical attitude presupposes a profound experience of worth and love; an understanding of the importance of the other person and of the value of life that imposes certain obligations. Love, in that sense, is a major theme in ethics. Without experience of worth and love, morality lacks a deeper personal anchor. Ethics under the banners of rational egoism, obedience, peer pressure or nursing of one’s own conscience is not enough, since not touched by love and not having in seriousness discovered the Other and the validity of an own, individual existence.
Ethics grows out of the friction and social interplay of life, though not always with our consciousness of it. When clear conflicts arise with regard to values or loyalties, however, we are forced to reflect on which of several courses of action we should choose.
Reflecting and conversing on ethical issues helps to develop our sensibilities and ethical rationality. Through time, such reflections have led to the fundamental ethical positions of human culture. A pivotal standpoint is the idea that all humans are created equal, with the implication that each individual should be treated with respect and care, and allowed to participate fully in the life of the society.
Our value judgements are important for the values that then become established and find expression in working life. These values are revealed not only in expressed opinions, but also in attitudes, actions and organisational and other structures. Not least, we should be aware of the values that evolve in carrying out professional activities of a directly social character involving the exercise of power, such as social work, sick care, care of the elderly and the disabled, education and leadership. What, then, are the ethical problems and dilemmas that confront us in social work?

Areas of ethical concern in social work

There are several kinds of ethical dilemmas in social work and these can be grouped in various ways. While making no claim at being comprehensive, the following areas of concern are indicated:

Basic values and goals

What should be the ideological basis and societal goals of social work? The prestige words found in the so-called portal paragraphs are expressions of such basic values and goals. The Instrument of Swedish Government, for example, states:
Public power shall be exercised with respect for the equal worth of all and for the liberty and dignity of each individual.
The personal, economic and cultural welfare of each individual shall be fundamental aims of public sector activities. In particular, it shall be incumbent upon public institutions to secure the right to work, housing and education, and to promote social care, social security, and a good living environment. (Instrument of Government Chapter 1 Article 2)
In what way can these values be related to other prestige words in this area, for example, freedom of choice, quality, effectiveness?

Regulations, types of measures and priorities

When the fundamental values and goals embodied in legislation are to take shape in practice, a number of questions present themselves: In what areas are actions required? What general ambitions should apply with regard to action at community level, at neighbourhood level, in the workplace, within groups and among individuals?
Another way of putting this is to ask what concrete obligations and ambitions public services should have in regard to private citizens. What should remain the individual’s own responsibility? What should the levels of economic assistance be, and what conditions must be fulfilled in order to qualify for such assistance? Should these conditions include the demand for something in return and if so, what? What requirements and control structures should exist in social work? And what form should a regulatory system take in order to provide for parity of treatment while allowing for flexibility and individual considerations? How can a balance be struck between costs and anticipated effects, for example in the treatment of addicts? These and many other questions can be posed at several levels concerning the organisation of social work and its guidelines.

Loyalties and obligations

Especially in a publicly regulated appointment, a social work professional has many binding obligations. These may be in relation to the law, the CEO of a public authority, other superiors (politicians, heads of department), colleagues, subordinates and clients, as well as other members of society. We also have obligations towards our close relations as well as to our own lives and ourselves. Conflicts of loyalty may arise both between and within each of these categories.
Within the framework of general obligations toward clients and the public, the social worker has specific obligations toward persons and groups who find themselves in especially vulnerable and difficult situations. The task imposed on the social worker by both the individual and the society is to represent the individual in society, but not necessarily against different institutions in society. How should these specific obligations be expressed?

Conflicts of interests and conflicts of ideas

Contradictions between obligations and loyalties can be allied to conflicts of interests or ideas. Several such predicaments can be identified: between social workers and clients, between clients and other persons, between different client groups, between client groups and other members of society, between institutions and client groups, between employers and social workers, between different institutions, and between different professions within an institution.
Occasionally such conflicts are an expression of opposing interests of a more or less rational and legitimate kind, but they may also be grounded in ideological disputes – conflicts between incompatible ideas concerning the actual or an ideal society.

Helper or controller?

A classical problem in social work is the conflict between the roles of helper and controller, therapist and caseworker. One example of this contradiction is that information gathered about a client in the caring or supportive role may be used against that client by the same caseworker in her/his role as representative of the public authority.
How can this problematic combination of power to tend and power to rend be handled? To what extent can, and ought, the problem be handled through the structuring of social work so that certain individuals work solely as ‘helpers’ while others work solely as ‘controllers’? And might such a structure not create a remarkable duality in social work and a hazardous one-sidedness in those so professionally engaged? An additional risk is that in the ‘purely’ caring activity, the power aspect will be lost to sight .
This difficulty of integrating different roles and actions within the framework of professional competence leads to both psychological and methodological complications. From the perspective of the client, the question then becomes how much trust and openness it is safe to venture in a relation with social work professionals.

Self-determination versus compulsion

The conflict of self-determination versus compulsion can be seen as a part of the helper/controller issue. Depending on the area of society in question, perspectives will differ. For example, in the judiciary, in the military service and in primary education, the limits to self-determination are not a particularly controversial factor. Complications tend to arise when the consideration is of compulsory psychiatric treatment or compulsory treatment of addicts. The issue of self-determination and the exercise of free will as opposed to compulsion also tends to arise in connection with measures concerning children in danger of harm within their home environments.
What forms of compulsion are ethically legitimate in these respective areas? And what arguments and material consequences can be brought to legitimise such compulsion?

Knowledge versus interpretation

Delicate considerations in social work concern what information may be gathered, how that information may be used and how certain information is to be interpreted. The issue here is confidentiality and respect for individual integrity, as well as the validity of personal judgements. What overall conclusions are ethically responsible to draw about a person?

Measures and actions

An area of concern previously touched on is the rules, priorities, and types of measures of a general and structural character involved in social work. Day-to-day ethical issues more often concern measures and actions applied in a specific case, with regard to a specific person or a concrete situation.

Making value judgements about clients

Certain characteristics of a client or the conditions under which a client lives can affect the assessment – the client status – of that person in a debatable manner. If a client has low self-esteem and no expectations for the future, this can colour the approach and attitudes of the caseworker. Other factors that may affect assessment of a client (often unconsciously) may be the client’s lifestyle, attitudes, opinions and/or social relations. How the caseworker can avoid being influenced by such factors is primarily a practical ethical problem.

Fundamental attitudes, handling of clients, relationships

How clients are treated reflects individual value judgement in practice. All aspects of the manner in which a client is handled are not, however, determined by ethical choices. In social work, the manner of treatment is the result of an interaction, as much between supportive action, forms of therapy and the pedagogics of caring, as of ethics.
The manner of treatment when receiving a client can partly be an expression of a fundamental personal attitude towards other people at an individual level, partly a response borrowed from a professional repertoire of behaviour. The attitude of the caseworker in a ‘professional encounter’ can be described by several keywords, such as empathy, respect, responsibility, involvement, trust, carefulness, equality, humility and honesty.
In addition to discussing such expressions, we can look for other descriptive categories for fundamental attitude, treatment and relationship in the context of social work, for example: paternalism, human consideration, professional caring, benevolent neutrality, and conflict and confrontation.
What is desirable with regard to the character of treatment and relationship? What expressions are relevant to different forms of social work? Should social work be conceived of as more relation centred, giving prominence to its character of ‘chance meeting’? or should one rather maintain a more basic, instrumental view, striving for an efficient and goal-oriented handling of cases?

An ethical fundament for social work

Social conditions and societal structures affect people’s lives in high degree, promoting development or restricting freedom and limiting individual capacity. Observing the interaction between society and the individual is important for understanding certain forms of vulnerability and for choosing relevant measures and support strategies.
All people are of equal worth, irrespective of gender, ethnic background, religious belief, political views, accomplishment, and life experience. This signifies on a personal level that every individual is a fellow being, worthy of respect, caring and the right to exert an influence on the conditions that affect daily life. On a political level, this means that public services should safeguard the welfare of citizens, including their right to self-determination and equal influence in affairs of the society, where social obligations should be regarded as an expression of civic responsibility towards one another.
In the context of social work, equal human worth means that every individual should as far as possible be treated as an equal. In addition, action concerning each client should be taken on an equal basis and with respect for the client’s right of self-determination.
Social work is based upon and expresses a number of norms and values – life ideals and social goals – as well as informing a social ethic. Social work proceeds from an appreciation of human rights as well as compassion and solidarity with people in a vulnerable situation. Important goals in this work are equality, justice, security, development, self-realisation, responsibility, and conflict management at different levels throughout society.
Social work should be carried out in a manner to strengthen civil society and the development of an active and cohesive citizenry. Public social action can to advantage take place through interaction with civic groups such as client or voluntary organisations.
Social work should show respect for the autonomy of the individual and proceed from a credo of personal responsibility; the conviction that each individual can affect her/his situation through the utilisation of own resources; that each individual bears responsibility for her/his own life, and that the quality of life is partly determined by her/his own actions.
However, there are situations of a character that can annul an individual’s capacity for decision-making, leading to deep self-destruction. Here public services have a responsibility to protect individual life and health, even where such action may be at odds with that person’s right of self-determination. Elements of compulsion should be used restrictively, however, and applied only where the client’s well-being is threatened or where a child’s rights and needs cannot be satisfied in any other way. The use of compulsion also presupposes that all other possibilities have been considered and found inadequate. Compulsion should, moreover, only be employed where previous knowledge and tried-and-true experience make it apparent that such action will have the desired positive effect.
Publicly financed social work presumes the existence of adequate economic resources and a welfare-political opinion that appreciates the value of social work. High quality and the conscientious use of resources should be pursued in social work, primarily for the sake of the client, but also with a view to guaranteeing the legitimacy of social work in the community and thereby assuring access to resources over the long term.
The pursuance of quality involves an orientation toward the growth of knowledge and the development of competence, along with openness for critical examination and assessment of one’s own operations. The choice of becoming a social worker generally has ethical elements, such as an ambition to help vulnerable individuals and groups, contribute towards their development and to work for social change.
Certain clients and client groups have a low social status. They may be exposed to dismissive or contemptuous attitudes from other members of society and are often threatened with violence and assault from persons close to them. The social work profession should completely repudiate any, and all, belittling patterns of behaviour. Handling, assessment and measures should be dictated by an acknowledgement of the profound and equal worth of each individual.
Ethics is a proficiency factor in carrying out qualified social work and ethical proficiency has two aspects. On the one hand, ethical consciousness, related to knowledge, critical thinking, analytical ability and pertinent evaluation. Responsible persons – not least professionals in the field – should be aware of the ethical foundations of their work and have the ability to make discerning judgements. They should also be able to present convincing motivations for those judgements. The other aspect of ethical proficiency can be termed moral maturity and concerns personal experience and attitudes as well as the traits of decisiveness and perseverance. Basic ethical competence in this sense consists of an aptitude for personal understanding of human value and awareness of the importance of individual welfare. The meaning of moral maturity can also be indicated by such expressions as compassion, respect, veracity, meticulousness, humility, courage and generosity.

Ethical guidelines and other assessment models

Professional ethical proficiency can be reinforced by various support structures. Education and supervision both encompass such supportive functions. Another significant mainstay would be the existence of professional ethical guidelines. Those outlined below can be applied both to a model of ethical duty and to an model of ethical outcomes. These guidelines can be construed as having a direct ethical validity, imposing a direct obligation; but they may also be construed as gaining their ethical validity by virtue of the expected positive consequences of their application. These two views can also be combined so that some guidelines may be interpreted in terms of ethical duty and others in terms of ethical outcomes.
Our guidelines propose a fundamental ethical approach for the profession. Of course, there are many complex ethical issues in social work where these guidelines will give no clear indication of how to proceed; but other supplementary assessment models can then be put to use. An interesting thought experiment is to attempt to view the problem from the different perspectives of the persons involved, by exchanging roles with the client, with close relations to the client, and any other persons concerned. Having shifted perspective several times in this way, the original problem will probably look very different. Listening to how the different persons involved evaluate the situation creates the most favourable conditions for such role exchange.
Professional ethical guidelines may be interpreted as having outcome-ethical validity and may even be supplemented with outcome-ethical assessments. The main question then is the probable short- and long-term outcomes from proceeding in a particular manner, for example: What might be the outcomes of a specific measure in a specific situation for clients, close relations and other members of the society? What is the probable outcome, in the short as well as the long term, if social work is generally characterised by certain work routines, requirement structures, measures and patterns of treating clients? Would there be a risk that certain clients or client groups will suffer as a result? How will these outcomes affect public confidence in social work?
The different outcomes must then be weighed against each other and action taken that, all things considered, will give the best end results. However, in using an ethical outcomes decision-making model there are other deliberations to be made. One is in each case to answer the question of what is meant by positive outcome. In the ethical fundament for social work presented above, several examples are given of what may be meant by positive outcome and human welfare.
It is therefore important in social work to develop an internal culture with a lively discussion of professional ethics. Clients, colleagues, co-opted parties, the surrounding environment and society in general have a right to demand that social work graduates and others carrying out professional social work act on the basis of ethical positions and considerations.
The following guidelines, intended as support when engaging in such deliberations, do not follow the above categorisation into areas of ethical concern for social work. Instead they are grouped into four broad categories: profession and personality, the client, colleagues and the workplace, and society.

Professional ethical guidelines for social work

Profession and personality

1. Professional social work is based on science and proven experience, as well as democratic and humanistic values, thus contributing to preservation of human rights and the development of general welfare in the society.
2. The social work professional shall at work and in private show respect for the sovereignty of each individual.
3. The social work professional has a particular responsibility toward persons and groups in vulnerable positions.
4. The social work professional must make use of her/his professional status in a responsible manner while remaining conscious of the limits of her/his ability.
5. The social work professional should strive to develop her/his professional ability and to attain ethical consciousness and moral maturity.

The client

6. The social work professional shall respect the personal integrity of clients and promote their self-determination as long as this does not impeach upon the rights of others.
7. Clients should be met with respect and the endeavour to establish a good relationship. Any measures taken should, as far as possible, be founded on cooperation and mutual understanding.
8. The social work professional shall inform the client of her/his rights , responsibilities, and obligations and endeavour to work for the best solution for each client.
9. Information of a confidential or sensitive nature should be treated with the care stipulated in law, and in general with great discretion.
10. The social work professional shall not exploit the client’s dependent position.

Colleagues and the workplace

11. The social work professional must keep her-/himself informed of and adhere to fundamental organisational goals.
12. The social work professional must seek to maintain loyalty and respect toward colleagues and other employees at all levels, as well as taking suitable responsibility for the social environment of the workplace.
13. The social work professional is required to act to rectify violations caused by methods of work, by colleagues or by clients. Other demands on loyalty are subordinate to this requirement.

Society

14. The social work professional shall work in accordance with applicable laws except where these infringe upon basic human rights.
15. The social work professional shall endeavour to promote public confidence in social work and the professional abilities of social workers. S/he should also be open to critical investigation into the exercise of the profession.

Members of the Ethical Council were Margaretha Andersson, Lena Fröberg (chairperson), Inga-Lill Näsman, Karin Oldegård-Ljunggren and Mats Wretås. Elis Envall participated as secretary and Erik Blennberger as co-opted member.