Clinical: Values and ethics

A client's insurance will pay only for diagnoses more serious than the adjustment disorder the client meets criteria for. The client asks the social worker to use a diagnosis of major depressive disorder. What should the social worker do?

A current client who owns a landscaping company offers to do the social worker's yard work in exchange for reduced fees. What should the social worker do?

A social worker in private practice is asked to provide couples therapy to the social worker's own former college roommate and the roommate's spouse. What should the social worker do?

A current client sends the social worker a friend request on a personal social media account. What should the social worker do?

A client who was sexually abused in childhood begins crying in session. The social worker feels the urge to hug the client. What should the social worker do?

A client tells the social worker that they plan to shoot a former coworker tomorrow, names the coworker and says they own a gun. What should the social worker do?

A social worker is curious about a new client and considers searching the client's name online. What does ethical practice require?

A new state law cuts the number of covered outpatient mental health sessions for adults on public insurance. Several of a social worker's clients will be affected. What should the social worker do FIRST?

During a session, a 9-year-old client says a parent hit them with a belt and shows the social worker fresh welts on the arm. What should the social worker do FIRST?

When may a social worker limit a client's right to self-determination?

A competent adult patient refuses a blood transfusion for religious reasons. The medical team asks the social worker to help convince the patient. What should the social worker do?

A clinical supervisor is asked to supervise a social worker who uses a family therapy model the supervisor has never studied. What should the supervisor do?

A social worker is leaving the agency in three weeks. What should the social worker do about current clients?

A client has met all treatment goals, but wants to keep coming because they enjoy the sessions. What should the social worker do?

A social worker is assigned a client whose cultural background differs from the social worker's own and is unfamiliar to them. What approach BEST reflects cultural humility?

A transgender client tells the social worker their chosen name and pronouns, which differ from the name on their insurance card. What should the social worker do?

An undocumented client who is a victim of domestic violence is afraid to seek help because of immigration status. What should the social worker do FIRST?

A client who is Deaf and uses American Sign Language is scheduled for an assessment. The client reads lips well. What should the social worker do?

An agency serving many Spanish-speaking clients provides consent forms only in English. What should the social worker do?

A recently resettled refugee family is referred because a child is withdrawn at school. What should the social worker consider FIRST in the assessment?

A social worker on a hospice team notices they dread going to work, feel detached from patients and have become irritable with colleagues. What is this MOST likely to indicate?

A 16-year-old client in outpatient therapy says they have started drinking at parties on weekends. The parent who consented to treatment asks the social worker what the teen discusses. Before treatment began, the social worker, the teen and the parent agreed what would be shared. What should guide the social worker's response?

A social worker wants advice from a colleague in another agency about a difficult case. What is the BEST way to consult?

At the last session, a client gives the social worker a handmade card and a small plant to say thank you. The agency has no gift policy. What should the social worker do?

A social worker faces a conflict between a client's right to self-determination and the social worker's duty to protect the client from harm. What should the social worker do FIRST?

A social worker notices that a colleague has smelled of alcohol at work several times and recently missed client appointments. What should the social worker do FIRST?

A social worker wants to audio record sessions to review in supervision. What must happen before recording?

A client in a federally assisted substance use treatment program asks the social worker to tell the client's employer that the client is attending. What is required before the social worker shares this?

A social worker realizes they gave a client an incorrect date for a court hearing, and the client may miss it. What should the social worker do FIRST?