Journal Entry: Values and Boundaries

Module 2 Introduction-2

An act has no ethical quality whatever unless it be chosen out of several all equally possible.

—William James

It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

—Mark Twain

The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.

—Hubert H. Humphrey

In module 2, we address ethical competency and learning styles. Ethical standards are a hallmark of all helping professions—this includes, but is not limited to, medicine, law, psychology, social work and human services. The quotes used to introduce Module 2 are important because they signify first, that no ethical decision is easy. If the choices we face are easy—then there is no real decision, and no dilemma. It is precisely because satisfying one value violates another that we find ourselves struggling to make the right decision. Consider the attack on the satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, in Paris. The attack took place on January 7, 2015, and was carried out by two brothers affiliated with Al-Qaeda in Yemen. As the brothers tried to gain access to the building, they first murdered a maintenance worker and then came upon Corrine Rey, one of the cartoonists who worked for  Charlie Hebdo Links to an external site. . Rey had just picked up her daughter from daycare, and the shooters told her that they would kill her daughter if she did not enter a security code to let them in the building. Rey entered the code, and once the gunmen were inside, they opened fire and killed ten more people. Rey clearly faced a moral dilemma—should she sacrifice her daughter or open the door? She chose the latter. What would you have done, and why? For more on Corrine Rey’s ethical dilemma, please read  Corrine’s Dilemma at Je Suis Charlie Links to an external site. .

Because ethical dilemmas create a win-lose situation, we can also appreciate why moral courage is so rare. People may be tempted to walk away, to avoid the hard choices that ethical dilemmas present. Perhaps they unthinkingly force their perspective on others without careful consideration of how or why they came to a particular conclusion. Such individuals may struggle with considering any point of view other than their own.

Finally, Hubert Humphrey’s quote reminds us of our moral responsibility to clients, the community and society. The interests of each of these groups, or members within these groups may be at odds with those of others, thereby increasing the chances that you will be faced with ethical dilemmas or ethical violations by peers or other service providers. Two important considerations—will you recognize the ethical issues at stake, and if so, what will you do? In this internship, we will also ask you to explore your own values and learn how to assess the way that you process information. These characteristics play a very important role in shaping how you perceive situations involving ethical dilemmas, and how you learn to deal with them as well as other facets of your professional socialization. To help you learn about your own learning style, you will study and use Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model. As Kiser (2016) observes, this model is particularly well-suited to the internship because of this emphasis.

According to Kolb, learning involves concrete experiences, reflection, abstraction, and then experimentation (application and testing of ideas). It is worth noting that experience alone does not produce sound reasoning or effective learning—Kiser (2016) advises that reflection and critical thinking play important roles in this process. You will need to link theory and knowledge from your coursework to your internship activities. Therefore, your internship will ask you to think about thinking in a way that may be unfamiliar and perhaps uncomfortable at first. The discomfort that emerges when we confront inconsistencies among our own thoughts, perceptions, emotions, and beliefs is known as “dissonance.” For example, Kiser indicates that an intern whose actual feelings towards a client are at odds with how she thinks she should feel will likely experience dissonance. Because dissonance is an unpleasant experience, dissonance researchers believe that most people are motivated to resolve it. By consciously identifying the source of dissonance, it is possible to resolve it and move forward—in Kolb’s model, this is known as “articulated learning,” and should culminate with a plan for self-remediation. We will ask you to identify your preferred learning style and then go on to analyze some of your field experiences using Kolb’s model.

Course Learning Outcomes

This module addresses the following Course Learning Outcomes:

· Apply discipline-specific knowledge to the field experience, and show how this knowledge contributes to their understanding of the purpose of the internship experience

· Identify and discuss ethical issues that relate to the assigned agency

· Identify and discuss areas of strength and weakness and discuss self-improvement strategies

· Document completion of assigned hours at agency

Module Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this module, the student will be able to:

· Describe one or more sets of ethical standards (e.g., NOH or NASW)

· Analyze and interpret situations involving ethical dilemmas or infractions

· Identify and explain his or her preferred learning style

· Develop a plan for experiential learning

Learning Activities & Assignments

Complete the following:

1. The Human Services Internship: Getting the Most from Your Experience. (4th ed.).

. Chapter 3—Developing Ethical Competence

. Chapter 4—Learning to Learn from Experience: Understanding Learning Styles and The Integrative Processing Model

. Appendix—Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals

· National Association of Social workers—Massachusetts Chapter:  Resolving Ethical Dilemmas Links to an external site.  by K. Murphy

· The New Social Worker— What Is an Ethical Dilemma? Links to an external site.

· National Association of Social Workers— Code of Ethics Links to an external site.

· Journal Entry: Values and Boundaries

· Journal Entry: Learning Style and Experiential Learning

· Clinical Hours: Module 2

· Clinical Supervisor Paperwork: Module 2