Practising ethically during Covid-19: social work challenges and responses

Banks, S.; Cai, T.; de Jonge, E.; Shears, J.; Shum, M.; Sobočan, A.M.; Strom, K.; Truell, R.; Úriz, M.J.; Weinberg, M.

doi:10.1177/0020872820949614

Practising ethically during Covid-19: social work challenges and responses

Banks, S.; Cai, T.; de Jonge, E.; Shears, J.; Shum, M.; Sobočan, A.M.; Strom, K.; Truell, R.; Úriz, M.J.; Weinberg, M.

Authors

Professor Sarah Banks s.j.banks@durham.ac.uk
Professor

T. Cai

E. de Jonge

J. Shears

M. Shum

A.M. Sobočan

K. Strom

R. Truell

M.J. Úriz

M. Weinberg

Abstract

This article draws on findings of an international study of social workers’ ethical challenges during COVID-19, based on 607 responses to a qualitative survey. Ethical challenges included the following: maintaining trust, privacy, dignity and service user autonomy in remote relationships; allocating limited resources; balancing rights and needs of different parties; deciding whether to break or bend policies in the interests of service users; and handling emotions and ensuring care of self and colleagues. The article considers regional contrasts, the ‘ethical logistics’ of complex decision-making, the impact of societal inequities, and lessons for social workers and professional practice around the globe.

Citation

Banks, S., Cai, T., de Jonge, E., Shears, J., Shum, M., Sobočan, A., …Weinberg, M. (2020). Practising ethically during Covid-19: social work challenges and responses. International Social Work, 63(5), 569-583. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820949614

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jul 23, 2020
Online Publication Date	Aug 20, 2020
Publication Date	Sep 1, 2020
Deposit Date	Jul 23, 2020
Publicly Available Date	Aug 21, 2020
Journal	International Social Work
Print ISSN	0020-8728
Electronic ISSN	0020-8728
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	63
Issue	5
Pages	569-583
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872820949614

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Advance online version This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).