Editor's Eye

 

Dear Social Work Colleagues,  

 

Hello! Welcome to Issue #138 of the Social Work E-News! Thank you for subscribing to receive this e-mail newsletter, which is brought to you by the publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine, SocialWorker.com, SocialWorkJobBank.com, and other social work publications.

 

May marks the observance of Arthritis Awareness Month, Mental Health Month, Older Americans Month, Asthma Awareness Month, Teen Pregnancy Prevention Month, and National Foster Care Month, among others.

 

Coming in June: Men's Health Month, Home Safety Month, National Cancer Survivors Day, National HIV Testing Day, and more.

 

In case you missed it…. The Spring 2012 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER is available NOW! Highlights of the Spring issue include: what is an ethical dilemma, professional development in the face of conflict, passing the licensing exam, a school social work group for high school students in non-traditional families, first impressions of social work, reflections of a child welfare social worker, lessons from Hull House, interview with Jonathan Singer of the Social Work Podcast, poetry, book reviews, and more!

 

You can download this issue (and others) of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine in PDF format FREE at http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Downloads/. Please allow time for the download to complete.

 

Individual articles from this issue are also available on our Web site in Web format. Just go to http://www.socialworker.com and start reading!

 

IT'S ALSO IN PRINT! Don't forget--THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER is available in a print edition. Most issues from 2009 to the present are available now at http://newsocialworker.magcloud.com. You can purchase them individually, or purchase all four issues from 2010 or 2011 in one perfect-bound volume. The 2011 volume is now also available at http://amzn.to/KFDkgE at a new LOWER price!

 

You can also go to http://www.socialworker.com/home/menu/Subscribe/ and subscribe (free) to receive an e-mail reminder and table of contents of each issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine when it is available. If you are a subscriber to the E-News (which you are reading now!), this does NOT mean that you are automatically subscribed to THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine. They are two different publications! Subscribe to both to get the most advantage.

 

The Social Work E-News has 28,800+ subscribers, and thousands of social workers (and people interested in social work) visit our Web sites. If you like our Web sites, The New Social Worker, and the Social Work E-News, please help us spread the word by using the "Share" button on the right side of this newsletter to share the newsletter with your friends and contacts. Tell your friends, students, or colleagues to visit us at http://www.socialworker.com, where they can download a free PDF copy of the magazine, become one of our 14,400+ fans on Facebook, participate in discussions, and lots more.

 

Until next time,

Linda Grobman, ACSW, LSW

Publisher/Editor

THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER®

 

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Words From Our Sponsors

NEED BOOKS OR GIFTS? The publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER has some great books. Give the gift of Days in the Lives of Social Workers or our other social work and nonprofit management titles. Interested in starting or running a nonprofit organization? THE NONPROFIT HANDBOOK: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO START AND RUN YOUR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION is now in its 6^th edition. This book is packed with detailed information that you need to know.

 

Check out all of our social work and nonprofit books, social work greeting cards, social work buttons, and more. All of our books and products are available through our secure online store at: http://shop.whitehatcommunications.com

 

 

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Are you or someone you know applying to social work graduate school? The Social Work Graduate School Applicant’s Handbook is now available in Kindle format!  Order it from Amazon here.

Job Corner

Find jobs for new grads and experienced social work practitioners at http://www.socialworkjobbank.com, THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER’s online job board and career center. Post your confidential résumé at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/c/resumes/resumes.cfm?site_id=122

 

If you or your agency are hiring social workers, don’t forget to post your jobs on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Please check the SocialWorkJobBank “products/pricing” page at http://jobs.socialworkjobbank.com/r/jobs/post/index.cfm?site_id=122 for job posting options and SPECIAL offers.  Our audience of professional social workers is active and engaged in the job search, receiving more than 480,000 e-mail job alerts last year and actively applying to open positions. Your jobs will gain additional exposure to our social networks on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Also, please note that SocialWorkJobBank.com is part of the Nonprofit Job Board Network. You can post your job to SocialWorkJobBank and get exposure on other network sites for a reasonable additional fee.

 

Job seeker services are FREE—including searching current job openings, posting your confidential résumé/profile, and receiving e-mail job alerts. Please let employers know that you saw their listings in the SOCIAL WORK E-NEWS and at SocialWorkJobBank.com.

 

There are 1,084 jobs currently posted on SocialWorkJobBank.com. Check it out today.

Features

by Karen Allen, Ph.D., LMSW

 

 

Social workers are routinely confronted with ethical dilemmas in practice, and social work programs infuse their courses with professional ethics and values to help students prepare for this eventuality. The Council on Social Work Education (2008) requires that students learn how to “apply social work ethical principles to guide practice, engage in ethical decision making, recognize and manage personal values in a way that allows professional values to guide practice, and tolerate ambiguity in resolving ethical conflicts” (EPAS 2.1.2).

Social work students become familiar with the Code of Ethics, learn one of the various models on ethical decision making (Congress, 1999; Dolgoff, Loewenberg, & Harrington, 2009; Reamer, 1995) and, at some point in their education, are typically required to write a paper on an ethical dilemma. However, students are not routinely taught how to recognize what an ethical dilemma is. Correctly identifying an ethical dilemma is the first step in resolving it.

What Is an Ethical Dilemma?

There are three conditions that must be present for a situation to be considered an ethical dilemma. The first condition occurs in situations when an individual, called the “agent,” must make a decision about which course of action is best. Situations that are uncomfortable but that don’t require a choice, are not ethical dilemmas. For example, students in their internships are required to be under the supervision of an appropriately credentialed social work field instructor. Therefore, because there is no choice in the matter, there is no ethical violation or breach of confidentiality when a student discusses a case with the supervisor. The second condition for ethical dilemma is that there must be different courses of action to choose from. Third, in an ethical dilemma, no matter what course of action is taken, some ethical principle is compromised. In other words, there is no perfect solution.

In determining what constitutes an ethical dilemma, it is necessary to make a distinction between ethics, values, morals, and laws and policies. Ethics are prepositional statements (standards) that are used by members of a profession or group to determine what the right course of action in a situation is. Ethics rely on logical and rational criteria to reach a decision, an essentially cognitive process (Congress, 1999; Dolgoff, Loewenberg, & Harrington, 2009; Reamer, 1995; Robison & Reeser, 2002). Values, on the other hand, describe ideas that we value or prize. To value something means that we hold it dear and feel it has worth to us. As such, there is often a feeling or affective component associated with values (Allen & Friedman, 2010). Often, values are ideas that we aspire to achieve, like equality and social justice.

 

 

Read the rest of this article at:

 

 

Articles from the Spring 2012 issue of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER include:

 

• Student Role Model: Stephanie Maldonado (in PDF version only)  

 

• Ethics: What Is an Ethical Dilemma? http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Ethics/What_Is_an_Ethical_Dilemma?/  

 

• Field Placement: Professional Growth: Flourish or Wither in the Face of Conflict http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Field_Placement/Professional_Growth%3A_Flourish_or_Wither_in_the_Face_of_Conflict/  

 

•School Social Work Group Benefits High School Students Living in Non-Traditional Families http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/School_Social_Work_Group_Benefits_H.S._Students_Living_in_Non-Traditional_Families/  

 

• How I Passed the Licensing Exam: 10 Tips http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/How_I_Passed_the_Licensing_Exam%3A_10_Tips/  

 

• Reflections of a Child Welfare Social Worker http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Reflections_of_a_Child_Welfare_Social_Worker/  

 

• Lessons From Hull House http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/General/Lessons_from_Hull_House/  

 

• Kryss Meets Career: Words Matter http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Professional_Development_%26_Advancement/Kryss_Meets_Career%3A_Words_Matter/  

 

•First Impressions of Social Work: An Honors Introductory Course (in PDF version only)  

 

• Tech Topics: Learning by Podcast With Jonathan Singer http://www.socialworker.com/home/Feature_Articles/Technology/Tech_Topics%3A_Learning_by_Podcast_With_Jonathan_Singer/  

 

• Poetry (in PDF version only)  

 

• On Campus (in PDF version only)  

 

• Reviews http://www.socialworker.com/home/Reviews/Book_Reviews/Book_Reviews_Spring_2012/

News & Resources

 

A new Web site at http://www.posttraumaticstressinjury.org/ explains the movement to change Post Traumatic Stress Disorder to Post Traumatic Stress Injury. Proponents of this change believe that the term “injury” is less stigmatizing and is more correct from a medical and public perception point of view.

 

The Web site offers detailed information about the issue, links to related articles, and a page where individuals and organizations can endorse the change.

 

This is one of many issues being considered with the forthcoming publication of the DSM-5. Interested parties may communicate directly with the APA’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-5) Committee about this and other issues related to the DSM. The next DSM will be published in May 2013. The committee is holding hearings, conducting studies, and publicizing its work in progress, inviting public comment through its Web site: http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx.  The committee is accepting public comments on proposed changes to the DSM-5 from May 2 to June 15, 2012.

 

There are numerous issues being discussed by the DSM-5 Committee and by the public and mental health professional communities regarding proposed changes to the DSM.  Here are some links to related articles:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am seeking articles for upcoming issues of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER magazine. I am especially interested in articles in the following categories:

 

·         social work ethics

·         field placement

·         practice specialties

·         news of innovative social work practice

·         technology

·         what every new social worker needs to know about…

·         other topics of interest to social work students, new graduates, and seasoned professionals

 

Our style is conversational and educational, and articles typically run 1,500-2,000 for feature articles (considerably shorter for news items). 

 

I also welcome submissions of poetry, photographs, illustrations, artwork, and other creative work depicting social work and related topics.

 

Please contact Linda Grobman, editor/publisher of THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER, at: lindagrobman@socialworker.com

 

 

 

The Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors and Phi Alpha Honor Society have partnered to deliver a scholarship program for undergraduate Phi Alpha members.  Each year, three scholarships will be awarded.  They are: (1^st) $2,500, (2^nd) $2,000, and (3^rd) $1,500.

Awards are intended to help students with expenses related to their education.  The focus of the application is the student’s service, scholarship, and leadership.  The first place selection will be sponsored to present as part of the conference program at the BPD annual conference each spring.  Students must be members of Phi Alpha to apply.  Applications are due May 30th.  Awards are announced by September 1^st. 

 

A complete application consists of: (1) Application form, (2) Chapter Advisor form, and (3) two Reference forms. All application materials are submitted online.

Scholarship forms are available at http://www.phialpha.org. 

 

 

CREATIVITY & AGING GRANTS

MetLife Foundation is accepting proposals for technical assistance grants on "Creativity and Aging in America.” Grants in the amount of $5,000 each will be awarded to three organizations in the U.S. to develop arts and aging programs in their communities. Application deadline is June 1, 2012.

 

For more information on the program, visit:

http://www.creativeaging.org/programs-people/metlife-initiative/metlife-foundation-creativity-and-aging-technical-assistance