M. Vincentia Joseph

Religion and Social Work Practice

Practitioners identified religious and spiritual issues that emerge in social work practice and that are salient factors during various life stages. The data suggest that attention should be directed to this area of practice so that workers can deal competently with these issues.

Teaching Social Work Ethics for Contemporary Practice: An Effectiveness Evaluation

Although courses in professional-ethics are taught at only a few schools of social work, there is interest in their inclusion in the curriculum across the continuum from the BSW to the doctoral level. This article presents an empirical study designed to compare the effectiveness of two models of teaching professional ethics at the masters level: the pervasive method–an integrated approach whereby ethical content is infused throughout the curriculum–and a discrete course. The findings suggest that the pervasive model is not adequate for teaching systematic ethical analysis and decision making.

Social work ethics: Historical and contemporary perspectives

This paper discusses the status of ethics within the social work profession. An historical perspective is presented as well as a consideration of the place of ethics in social work today. The philosophy of the profession, its values, codes of ethics, and ethical theory to resolve ethical conflicts experienced in practice are overviewed in this developmental context and are considered from the standpoint of practice and education. An agenda for the future is suggested.

A Parish Neighborhood Model for Social Work Practice

Natural helping networks, such as the parish neighborhood community, are becoming important links in the service delivery system and provide a rich matrix for creative and innovative practice. The integrative model presented in this article is conceptually coherent for use with both ecological and life model approaches.

Ethical problem solving skills in social work practice

This paper discusses the findings of research on the way issues were dealt with in clinical social work practice. Significantly, practitioners made limited use of ethical skills in identifying and resolving ethical conflict and most often dealt with these conflicts through the use of lay or technical practice skills. These findings point to the need for the inclusion of ethical tools in the role coping repertoire of the practitioner and the importance of preparation for ethical problem‐solving in professional education for social work as well as in the continuing education of the experienced social worker. They also have implications for agencies in planning staff development programs in this area.