Ethical Dilemmas in Social Work Practice: A Qualitative Exploration of Reflective Decision Making

Abstract

This paper addresses the issues of ethical dilemma in social work practice and discusses how reflective decision making can help in solving ethical dilemmas. Social workers often find themselves in complicated scenarios in which professional values and organizational requirements and demands as well as the needs of the client are at odds. The qualitative study was carried out in Sargodha Division, Punjab, Pakistan. Through in-depth interviews, purposive sampling was used to collect data on 12 professional social workers until saturation was reached. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data. The results show the four key themes; various aspects of ethical dilemmas, reflective decision making as a fundamental strategy, organizational limitation and work pressure, and the importance of professional experience and judgement. This research concludes that reflective practice can boost ethical decision making, but the application of reflective practice is constrained by organizational constraints. The research recommends formal education and enabling institutional settings to enhance ethical competence among social workers.