Exploring Self-Awareness and Ethical Practice in Social Work

Exploring Self-Awareness and Ethical Practice in Social Work

Part A: Self-Awareness of Values and Biases

Introduction

The principle of self-awareness in social work assists clinicians in learning more about themselves and the biases and values that they hold so that they can offer appropriate services to their clients. In the context of social work practice, especially when practicing with culturally diverse groups, it is equally important to identify the strengths and weaknesses of a given cultural background that possibly shapes social worker’s perceptions and attitudes (Nelson et al., 2019). This reflection is useful in checking one’s progress or lack thereof in self-development and career enhancement. This self-reflective exercise aims to interrogate my presuppositions about other people or groups and consider how such presuppositions might determine how I approach my work. By engaging in this reflection, I will strive to be more culturally sensitive in my practice and minimize the effects of these biases.

Assumptions about African American Females

While growing up, there were positive and negative attitudes that influenced my perception of African American females. On the positive side, I learned to appreciate their strength and how they handle problems in a given society that looks down on them. Growing up in my family and within my community, African American women were shown as strong, independent, hardworking women who take pride in their ability to fend for their families and communities regardless of the odds stacked against them.

However, negative assumptions also influenced my perception of people of this ethnicity. Women of African American descent were sometimes portrayed as brash or even combative, which I realize are misguided portrayals that still deny these women their rightful assertiveness and courage (Nelson et al., 2019). If not controlled, these implicit biases may negatively impact my practice by failing to understand their conduct or body language appropriately.

As a clinician, it is critical to recognize these biases and try not to succumb or give in to them. Instead of being prejudiced towards clients and the kind of people they are, I want to be able to look at each client as a special case. Open communication skills and cultural sensitivity will help prevent situations in which the client will feel offended due to my personal opinion and preferences.

Assumptions about African American Males

Similarly, there are many positive and negative influences on my perceptions of African American males. On the one hand, I learned about their strength and authority in their culture, specifically in matters pertaining to family and community. In my upbringing, African American men were characterized by strength, the ability to endure the hardships of life, and utmost responsibility.

Nevertheless, there were also negative stereotypic cues filled into my culture related to criminality and violence. These assumptions were supported by other messages in the media that depicted African American males as threats or were more likely to engage in illicit behavior. I understand that such biases may affect my practice in areas concerning the conduct of the client or the possibility of developing violent tendencies (Taylor et al., 2019).

In the same capacity, it is important to fight such stereotyping and always see African American male clients as individuals bearing unique characteristics. To minimize such biases, I can strive to carry out regular self-reflective practice and seek supervision whenever required. I will strive to provide my clients with an open environment in which the risk of being stereotyped or misunderstood is minimized.

Biases Toward Another Ethnic Group: Latinx Community

As I think about another ethnic group, I have found that I possess some positive as well as negative beliefs about Latinx people. On the bright side, they have always had a good sense of family, unity, and passion for work (Taylor et al., 2019). In my childhood, I witnessed many Latinx families living in my neighborhood stressing family ties and mutual support, which I always appreciated.

However, I also know that I have learned discriminatory attitudes toward Latinx people, more specifically, regarding their immigration and legal status. These assumptions are based on stereotypical beliefs often cultivated in society and media, and such bias may influence my work. For instance, I might have a subconscious bias that a Latinx client is undocumented or has legal issues without properly knowing it.

Regarding these biases, I need to be ready to listen to each client’s history and eliminate prejudice concerning their ethnicity. One significant way I could enhance the current practice is by adopting cultural competence, which would allow me to treat Latinx clients in an affirmative and culturally sensitive manner (Handtke et al., 2019).

Biases Toward Socioeconomic Status

Another dimension in which my biases exist is socioeconomic status. In my childhood, I saw positive and negative assumptions being made about people of lower income, and black people in particular. On the one hand, I respected their fighting spirit and often perceived those from low socioeconomic backgrounds as good and attentive people. However, negative assumptions have been made, such as linking poverty to laziness or lack of life goals.

In this case, these biases could result in a poor perception of clients who are from the lower class, especially when carrying out my professional practice. I may automatically think they have poor financial health and are not trying hard enough to change their financial situation. To offset these biases, I need to be alert to the systemic factors perpetuating poverty and bring this awareness to how I interact with my clients.

Assumptions Regarding Education

Regarding education, I have prejudices concerning people with higher educational achievements than me, especially African Americans. In a way, I am envious of them because I look at them as people who have defied all odds to go to school. However, there is also an underlying assumption that people with education are difficult to approach or may not find me capable of meeting their needs.

In my professional practice, these biases could be a hurdle in ensuring that I develop a good working relationship with clients, especially those who are learned. To counter this, I have to stay focused on my duties as a clinician and keep in mind that my clients expect help and that there should be no rivalry between us but cooperation (Taylor et al., 2019).

Biases Toward African American Homosexuals

When it comes to gay African Americans, I acknowledge that I have my cultural and social biases towards the group. Though I try to be as open-minded as possible, I still recognize several prejudices and myths about the LGBTQ+ community, especially if it comes to the African American population. These biases could affect my practice because I might prescribe solutions for clients’ challenges or tap into their problems based on stereotypes without comprehending their individuality.

To eliminate these biases, I need to exercise neutrality and be objective in my interactions with clients without making a priori assumptions regarding their homosexuality. Establishing a friendly environment for my clients will help me protect and accommodate them regardless of their color, race, gender, or marital status (Petsko & Bodenhausen, 2019).

Biases Regarding Older Adults

In general, most assumptions that I might have about individuals 65 years of age and above are positive ones, especially knowing that the elderly are usually considered wise due to their exposure to numerous encounters in life. Nevertheless, I also understand that I can have certain preconceptions concerning their capacity to accept changes or consider new approaches. In my professional practice, these biases could fail to appreciate the abilities of older clients or presume that they cannot easily accept change.

To eliminate these biases, I need to be ready to look for older adults’ strengths and capacities, knowing they possess worthwhile experiences. For this reason, by engaging my clients with respect and openness to their knowledge, I can render better and more sensitive care (Marques et al., 2020).

Plan to Overcome Biases

To go beyond the biases mentioned above, I need to practice critical self-reflection and actively look for learning opportunities. This involves enrolling in cultural sensitivity programs and asking for a supervisor’s help to manage biases that may emerge during my practice and forthright communication about diversity with my coworkers or patients (Rinard, 2018). I also anticipate reframing my beliefs regarding the social world through community engagement and learning from others who have different experiences. I must take the positive, appreciative inquiry approach since it can help me overcome prejudices and deliver higher ethical and efficient services to my clients.

Part B: Culturally Competent / Ethical Practice Paper

Introduction

Using the knowledge from the self-awareness assignment, I will use this paper to describe one of the issues that I came across in my practice that involved an African American female client. It influenced my biases as well as some of my long-term beliefs about people. The ethical way of thinking, or organizing, outlined in our text in Dolgoff et al. (2009) was used to solve the challenge.

Ethical Dilemma: Autonomy vs. Beneficence

In this case, as a school counselor, I encountered a scenario involving a 16-year-old African American female student, “Keisha,” who was not making progress toward the learning and emotional objectives. This girl was accompanied by her grandmother who has been a steward and attendant to her. She was practically raised in a poor household by her grandmother. Keisha was emotional and had a learning disability. However, she eliminated all the opportunities to seek assistance, reflecting the bias I identified in the self-awareness assignment when I viewed African American females as basically and primarily able to depend on themselves.

The two-headed problem could be an issue when she unveils her plan to leave education and drop out of school so as to fend for her family. In the same respect, refraining from imposing one’s decisions on her (Dolgoff et al., 2009) was also a way of acknowledging her autonomy. On the other hand, her perspective of help –as something that will act in her best interest- required me to assure her to go back to school to achieve or attain long-term success through hard work. Balancing these disagreeing ways of thinking about fundamental truths presented a significant challenge.

Application of Ethical Principles

Self-determination is one of the principles outlined by Hepworth et al. (2007) that can be applied to the case of my client. This principle is found in the code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers:” Social workers recognize and support the rights of clients to self-determination and help clients to define their purposes.” “Social workers may limit client self-determination when, in the social worker’s professional judgment, the client or potential client is unsafe, posing serious, likely and imminent danger to self or others (Hepworth et al., 2007, p. 69).”  Therefore, I would apply a principle that will “facilitate clients’ quest to view their (her) problems realistically, to consider various solutions, and their consequences, to implement change-oriented strategies (Hepworth et al., 2007. p. 69.).

To address this dilemma, I applied several ethical principles from Dolgoff et al. (2009).

Respect for autonomy: I allowed Keisha her privileges in decision-making concerning her life by giving her the feeling of being acknowledged or recognized by me. This entailed encouraging her to open up and discuss why she feels that she needs to drop out and making sure that I fully comprehend her reasons for this.

Beneficence: I focused on guiding Keisha to be in a stable mind, and this helped me to talk about the consequences of leaving her education. This situation made me offer available resources and information about financial assistance and other community-based support programmes that could help her shift from family difficulties to concentrating on her education to excel.

Nonmaleficence: As a professional, I should stand by her and not compel her into making any decisions. However, through team work, I discussed with Keisha in order to identify non-problematic solutions related to her core values that may not have negative repercussions both in the present and future.

Justice: It brought me to consider the social context of Keisha’s situation and take into account the systems that Keisha was up against as an African American female from a low-income background as I applied the principle by seeking to get the resources that may help her continue with education.

Self-Evaluation and the Role of Supervision

Through this process, self-awareness played a very important role in acknowledging and solving problems of my prejudices. I have come to realize that to ensure my approach was culturally applicable and morally sound, I needed direction from my supervisor to get more views.

Supervision has created more understanding for me to see the need to provide an enabling environment for a robust discussion on any complex and ethical issues. It has allowed me to receive and evaluate the feedback on my decision-making process. Supervision also created an opportunity for me to explore alternative methods. This is what we consider a collaborative approach, and it brings professionalism out of me.

Conclusion

Succinctly, the ethical dilemma in the case of Keisha has revealed the ability needed by a social worker to prepare for balancing multifaceted processes in cultural competence and ethical practices. I observed that respect for autonomy and the need to work in the best interest of the client must be carefully carried out using ethical principles, and engaging in professional self-evaluation with supervision. My encounter with Keisha underscores the reason for cultural competence and ethical practice in social work.

References

Cénat, J. M. (2020). How to provide anti-racist mental health care. The Lancet Psychiatry, 7(11), 929–931. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366(20)30309-6

Dolgoff, R., Loewenberg, F. M., & Harrington, D. (2009). Ethical Decisions for Social Work Practice (8 ed.). Thomson.

Handtke, O., Schilgen, B., & Mösko, M. (2019). Culturally competent healthcare–A scoping review of strategies implemented in healthcare organizations and a model of culturally competent healthcare provision. PloS one, 14(7), e0219971.

Marques, S., Mariano, J., Mendonça, J., De Tavernier, W., Hess, M., Naegele, L., … & Martins, D. (2020). Determinants of ageism against older adults: a systematic review. International journal of environmental research and public health, 17(7), 2560.

Nelson, R. L., Sendroiu, I., Dinovitzer, R., & Dawe, M. (2019). Perceiving discrimination: race, gender, and sexual orientation in the legal workplace. Law & Social Inquiry, 44(04), 1051–1082. https://doi.org/10.1017/lsi.2019.4

Petsko, C. D., & Bodenhausen, G. V. (2019). Racial stereotyping of gay men: Can a minority sexual orientation erase race? Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 83, 37–54. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2019.03.002

Rinard, S. (2018). Equal treatment for belief. Philosophical Studies, 176(7), 1923–1950. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-018-1104-9

Taylor, E., Guy-Walls, P., Wilkerson, P., & Addae, R. (2019). The historical perspectives of stereotypes on African-American males. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(3), 213–225. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41134-019-00096-y

Exploring Self-Awareness and Ethical Practice in Social Work

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