Constitutive and Operational Ethical Values in Romanian Social Work Practice: A New Perspective on Social Work

FORMAT | Presented paper

LANGUAGE | English

HOW TO CITE| Frunză, A., & SANDU, Antonio (2015). Constitutive and Operational Ethical Values in Romanian Social Work Practice: A New Perspective on Social Work. Prezentată la 1st Central & Eastern European LUMEN International Scientific Conference: LUMEN NASHS 2015| 11-13 September 2015 | Chisinau, Moldova.

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ABSTRACT:

This paper is the result of research carried out during 2012-2013, in the social work field, to determine the structural framework of a welfare model centred on ethical values, based on qualitative data analysis (Grounded Theory) obtained through individual and group interviews with social workers in the NE region of Romania.
The objective of this research was to identify the ethical values considered by social care professionals to be constitutive of the social work profession, as well as the values that the interviewees’ discourse suggested were operational within the current practice of social services. We have attempted to generate a theoretical model of social work, centred on the ethical values that underpin the construction of ethical expertise in social services. We have identified a hierarchy of ethical values, which starts from the operational values demonstrated in the discourse of the respondents and in their professional practices (along with the related ethical principles which can be induced as governing these practices), and leads ultimately to a set of corresponding constitutive values. The analysis model is consistent with recent models of the development of expertise in social work, through implementing the “supervision of ethics”.

KEYWORDS:

Constitutive values, Operational values, Ethical Values, Social Work Practice, Ethics.