Question
| Paper details: | Although students of social work have not yet satisfied the criteria to earn the title of “social worker,” they are bound by the same ethical requirements as titled social workers. Social workers regularly face ethical issues of varying magnitude, and social work students may as well. Some issues seem obvious, while others may emerge in subtle ways. For this Discussion, select one of the following scenarios. Consider the dilemma described, and imagine how you might feel if you found yourself in a similar situation. Think about the ethical obligations you would have as a social worker or social work student. Scenario 1 You are a social worker in a public health department providing services to pregnant women. As part of your duties, you provide parenting education, support, and connection to community resources, and you follow up with the families and their newborns for six months after birth. Ms. C has been a client of yours during two pregnancies in the last three years. She has a 15 year-old, a nine year-old, a three year-old, and a newborn. On this day, you are making a routine visit to Ms. C, who lives in an older mobile home in a rural area of the county. You take with you a newly hired social worker who is in training. When you arrive at the house, you find that it is clean and the two older girls are busy doing their homework. The three year-old is playing, and Ms. C is feeding the baby. During the visit, the new social worker asks Ms. C whether she is looking for work. When you discreetly ask her about birth control, the social worker remarks, motioning to the 15 year-old daughter, “You better get her on birth control if you do not want more babies around here.” Ms. C does not respond to the other social worker, instead maintaining her focus on you. You can tell that she is bothered by the remark about her daughter. Scenario 2 You are at lunch with some of your social work colleagues at a mental health center. While you are eating lunch, one of your colleagues says, “So, none of you can beat my morning. I had a borderline in my office who was definitely off her meds. She kept jumping out of the chair and spinning around the room and she was talking really fast about having a baby and being pregnant. I did not even try to deal with her. I called the Access Team and it took them half an hour to get to my office. The whole time I am watching her spin around, and I cannot help but laugh. They took her for an evaluation, but that was the craziest woman.” Post by Day 4 a description of the steps you would take to address the situation in an ethical manner. Justify your response with evidence from the Learning Resources. Respond by Day 6 to at least two colleagues who selected the other scenario. Compare the approaches you each took in addressing ethical concerns associated with the scenario. |
Answer
Addressing the Dilemma in Scenario 1
In response to scenario 1, I would first apologize to Ms. C for my colleague’s show of unprofessionalism. I would explain to her that he is a trainee, and his behavior should be excused. However, I would convince her that he did not mean to be offensive, he is willing to help clients, and it is only that he is yet to learn all the ropes of maintaining the utmost professional standards as a social worker. The aim is to admit that those were derogatory remarks and express how sorry my friend and I are. I am confident that this move will pacify the atmosphere and restore Ms, C’s focus on the topic of discussion.
Additionally, I will now address the issue professionally. I would start by stating the alarming number of impregnated teens every year (McCracken & Loveless, 2014). Although no one wishes his/her teen to engage in fornication, the reality of the matter is that this may happen leading to early and unwanted pregnancies. To that end, it is important for parents to discuss this issue with their teens without assuming that they already know or they receive counseling in schools. As such, I would urge Ms. C to engage her daughter in this discussion.
Turning to the prevailing discussion, I would let Ms. C know that although there are various ways of preventing teen pregnancies such as contraceptive techniques or engaging in protected sex, abstinence is the most appropriate method. Sexual abstinence is effective because it not only poses zero risk of impregnation but also prevents the contraction of STIs (Ahrens, Spencer, Bonnar, Coatney & Hall, 2016). Unfortunately, most teens venture into sexual relations even with knowledge about early pregnancies and the risk of contracting STIs (Hindin, Kalamar, Thompson & Upadhyay, 2016). Therefore, it is imperative for parents to take control and not take chances. By the time I am through with giving this explanation, I am confident Ms. C would have gotten over the embarrassing encounter with my colleague.
References
Ahrens, K. R., Spencer, R., Bonnar, M., Coatney, A., & Hall, T. (2016). Qualitative evaluation of historical and relational factors influencing pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection risks in foster youth. Children and Youth Services Review, 61, 245-252.
Hindin, M. J., Kalamar, A. M., Thompson, T., & Upadhyay, U. D. (2016). Review article: Interventions to Prevent Unintended and Repeat Pregnancy Among Young People in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of the Published and Gray Literature. Journal of Adolescent Health, 59, 8-15. McCracken, K. A., & Loveless, M. (2014). Teen pregnancy: an update. Current Opinion in Obstetrics & Gynecology, 26(5), 355-359
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