Moral Reasoning in Social Work Practice

Abstract

There is increasing attention paid to the importance of moral and ethical thinking in clinical practice. Most of the recent literature in this area applies philosophical and ethical thought to social work practice dilemmas. In this article, I draw on social psychological research on moral reasoning and behavior to illuminate the processes of moral reasoning in clinical practice. I review three research traditions and from them suggest a model of moral decision making to use as a guide to empirical study in this area.