Nowadays, humanity has a variety of issues such as acid rains, horrible living conditions, wars as well as climate changing. Nevertheless, despite the high level of their importance, social problems are also demand people attention to them and they also affect everybody in his/her daily life. Thus, there is no denying the fact that in the modern world social workers must have several important competences in order to become great professionals in their working field. For instance, they have to be friendly and open-minded people due to the fact that they must evaluate each situation without prejudice. In addition, this profession requires to be patient to others as well as to look on the problem from different perspectives in order to find the best solution for a client.
However, social work integrity is one of the most crucial competences in this field. Therefore, in order to look deeply into this question, this paper consists of its definition, importance as well as evaluation of its target audience.
Definition of Social Work Integrity
Unlike other meanings of this word, integrity in terms of social work is considered as a set of moral qualities that are required for people in this working field. In other words, social work integrity is an ability of a person to be honest, trustworthy, as well as to follow general rules of moral values and ethics (Barsky, 2010). Moreover, this type of integrity also demands from a social worker to be patient to his/her clients and their problems or troubles.
Trust be told, integrity is normal quality of every human in the world. Nevertheless, social workers have much higher standards due to the fact that they have to deal with different serious moral issues, and their decisions usually affect lives of other people.
But there is a further more subtle point we must consider. Social work integrity also can be differ from the general moral values because of the fact that complicated situations demand uncommon solutions. For example, work with the one who wants to commit a suicide needs a quick and an effective decision (Barsky, 2010). In some cases, it can be wrong from the general point of view, but it is necessary in order to solve a critical issue.
Therefore, taking into account all of these factors, I can finally formulate the definition of social work integrity. It is an ability of a social worker to be honest, reliable, and open-minded one with his/her clients or colleagues, as well as to make right decisions in unpredictable or dangerous situations in order to solve them as soon as possible and safe a patient’s life.
Influence of Social Work Integrity
Many people consider that social work integrity effects only people from this field. However, its set of qualities and abilities has a huge influence on others as well. In order to prove my point of view, main arguments for it are listed as follows.
The main group of people are social workers. They have to learn how to obtain this competence and implement it in their life on a regular basis. In fact, we can observe easily that in the modern society trust is one of the main condition of all healthy and strong relationships as well as a fundamental point of integrity. Moreover, social worker cannot help his/her client without it. Therefore, this person has to change his/her personality to the one that will not allow him/her to judge others.
Recognizing the fact that I have been discussed above, I ought to admit that social work integrity also effects clients. To illustrate this fact, there is an example that is very persuasive. Imagine a person that grew up in a poor district of the city with several criminal bands in it. Such environment made him/her secretive and surly one to others. In addition, he/she learnt to lean only on himself/herself because others did not put their attention on person’s life and problems. But social worker showed to this human that there are people that want to help and to support him/her in a difficult situation. As a result, after their several meetings, social work integrity changed client’s worldview into more positive and bright side.
But there is another factor that deserves some words here. Trust be told, person’s closest friends and relatives build his/her picture of the world and teach about many other aspects of his/her daily live. Thus, changing in thoughts or habits of one person from this group can cause a dramatic effect on others. In other words, social work integrity helps to expand an ordinary and common world and to see that it has more colors as well as shadows inside (Barsky, 2010). As a result, professionals in this field promote such ability among their friends and relatives; hence, more people transmit to a lifestyle that stands on moral values and ethics.
Importance of Social Work Integrity
In fact, the first reason can be obviously seen. It helps to look on the problem from different angles in order to find an optimal solution that will be the most helpful for the client and within the framework of morality. Actually, social worker is more than just a profession; it is a lifestyle (Bisman, 2014). Therefore, this person cannot just pretend that he/she lives according to moral ethics and values. In a global perspective, social work integrity can bring more positive and open-minded people to our society.
The second reason is that it shows to professionals in this field that sometimes problem can have unpredictable or strange solution. Moreover, in some cases, the one that is wrong in terms of moral become the most perfect solution there. As an example, I should mention issues about suicide. Most of social workers in order to help their clients have to put away some principals of morality. For instance, they may lie about real facts or promise impossible things. Thus, social work integrity is about recognizing the core issue in every situation and solving it in the most effective way.
The third reason goes this way: social work integrity helps to develop this professional field in order to provide more qualitative services to every client. For example, each skill or knowledge demands an effective training system. Thus, integrity requires from social workers to improve their proficiency on a regular basis. Moreover, clients’ success and well-being are the most valuable points for professionals in this field. In some cases, one of them can negatively effect on the client’s situation. Hence, social work integrity tells that all people that work in this sphere have to look at each other’s productivity and interrupt unhealthy or suspicious communication between client and professional.
Furthermore, social work integrity also has a positive impact on future generations. In order to see this point clearly, there is an example. Social worker helped a person with several issues to change his/her lifestyle and to become a happy member of the modern society. Thus, he/she got a chance to build a new happy family and to rise his/her children according to the moral values and ethics. As a result, in a few decades, our society will consist of more open-minded, reliable, honest, and trustworthy people. What’s more, I strongly believe that constant and effective work of professionals in this field is able to reduce the total amount of population with a variety of social problems.
Based on the reasons analyzed above I can admit that social work integrity is highly important for a modern society because of its effectiveness as well as promising perspectives in the nearest future.
Conclusions
The question of social work integrity has a lot of sides and it is a difficult one to answer definitely. Despite this fact, I am totally convinced that it is one of the most important quality of professionals in this field.
One of the primary reasons is that social work integrity helps to evaluate and solve any humanity issue in accurate, effective manner. In addition, it also effects different people and their daily lives. For instance, social worker promotes integrity among their friends and relatives; thus, he/she is able to change their thinking model. Hence, future society will include more reliable and honest citizens.
Therefore, taking into account all of these examples and factors, I may reach the conclusion that social work integrity is an essential and necessary point of each professional in this sphere. Nevertheless, all of them have to take additional trainings in order to improve their skills and knowledge on a regular basis.
References
Banks, S. (2009). Integrity in Professional Life: Issues of Conduct, Commitment and Capacity. British Journal of Social Work, 40(7), 2168-2184. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcp152
Barsky, A. (2010). Ethics and Values in Social Work. New York: Oxford University Press.
Bisman, C. (2014). Social work. New York: Columbia University Press.
