How social workers face ethical dilemmas? Strategies of resolution and associated variables

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study aims to establish a typology of professionals based on the strategies used by social workers to resolve ethical dilemmas, and to explore the individual and organisational predictors in each typology. An online survey was carried out with 1069 Spanish social workers. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify different classes of participants. A latent class regression was performed to identify individual and organisational factors that predict latent class membership. The results allowed us to identify three classes: The group that follows an authority pattern, the group that follows an intuitive pattern, and the group that follows a resource-intensive pattern. The tests associated with the Wald statistic conclude that there are significant differences between the three typlogies in terms of work experience, training in ethical / deontological aspects and knowledge of the social work code of ethics.