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Ethical Practice in the Human Services
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Ethical Practice in the Human Services
From Knowing to Being



January 2017 | 416 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
Ethical Practice in the Human Services moves beyond addressing ethical issues and principles to helping readers actually practice ethical behavior through awareness of their personal morals, values, and choices. With coverage of ethical standards from six different associations, the text addresses ethical issues and principles in social work, counseling, psychology, and marriage and family therapy. Robust pedagogy includes case illustrations and guided exercises to give readers a deeper understanding of the underlying moral principles and values that serve as a foundation for the various ethical codes.
 
Part One: Helping: The Role and Influence of the Helper
 
Chapter 1: Ethics – Core to Professional Helping
The Helping Process: A Blending of Art and Science

 
The Helping Process: The Meeting of Client and Helper

 
The Role of the Client in the Process of Change

 
The Role of the Helper in the Process of Change

 
 
Chapter 2: Helper Variables: What the Helper Brings to the Helping Relationship
Helper Values

 
Helper Competence: Beyond Knowledge and Skill

 
The Ethics of Therapeutic Choice

 
Professionalization, Professional Ethics, and Personal Response

 
 
Chapter 3: Ethical Standards: Guidelines for Helping Others
Formal Ethical Standards: The Evolution of a Profession

 
Across the Professions: A Review of Ethical Standards of Practice

 
Common Concerns and Shared Values Across the Professions

 
Beyond Knowing - A Call to BEING Ethical

 
 
Chapter 4: Ethical Practice in an Increasingly Diverse World
Prejudice – Pervasive In and Throughout the Helping Profession

 
Responding to the Challenge

 
 
Part Two: Ethics and Standards of Practice: The Professions’
 
Chapter 5: Ethics and the Law
The Helping Process as a Legal Contract

 
The Legal Foundation of Ethical Practice

 
When Ethics and Legalities Collide

 
 
Chapter 6: Conflict: The Reality of ‘Being’ Ethical within the Real World
Serving the Individual within a System

 
Ethical Culture of Social Systems

 
Who Is the Client?

 
 
Chapter 7: Ethical Decision Making
Codes of Ethics – Guides not Prescriptions

 
Ethical Decision Making: A Range of Models

 
Common Elements: An Integrated Approach to Ethical Decision Making

 
 
Part Three: Applying Ethical Standards
 
Chapter 8: Informed Consent
The Rationale for Informed Consent

 
Informed Consent across the Profession

 
Special Challenges to Informing for Consent

 
 
Chapter 9: Confidentiality
Confidentiality: What and When Warranted?

 
Legal Decisions: Confidentiality and Privileged Communications

 
 
Chapter 10: Boundaries and the Use of Power
Setting and Maintaining Professional Boundaries

 
Professional Objectivity: Essential to Professional Boundaries

 
Legal Decisions

 
 
Chapter 11: Efficacy of Treatment
Practicing Within the Realm of Competence

 
Professional Development: Knowing the State of the Profession

 
The Standard of Care: Appropriate Treatment

 
Employing an Action Research Approach to Practice

 
The Use of Referral

 
Recent Legal Decisions

 
 
Chapter 12: Evaluation and Accountability
Monitoring and Evaluating Intervention Effects

 
Recent Legal Decisions

 
 
Chapter 13: Ethical Challenges Working with Groups, Couples and Families
Competency to Practice

 
Identifying the “Client”

 
Informed Consent

 
Confidentiality

 
Boundaries

 
Responsibility: Client Welfare

 
 
Chapter 14: Competence and the Ethics of Self-Care
Competency: More than Knowledge and Skill

 
Burnout

 
Compassion Fatigue

 
The Ethical Challenge

 
Ethical Response

 

Supplements

Companion Website

Calling all instructors!
SAGE’s password-protected companion website includes the following text-specific Instructor resources:

  • Test banks provide a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding
  • Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for the course

 

“An invaluable resource for all professors who train human service majors at the undergraduate level.  The text provides information about multiple forms of professional helping starting with ethics codes and moving forward.”  

Ginger Welch
Oklahoma State University

“This text will provide a resource for instructors and students to consider professional ethics and personal/professional identity development as inextricably intertwined.”

Steven Farmer
Northern Arizona University

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1

Chapter 4

Chapter 7


For instructors

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