How far should you intervene in someone's life?

Learning Objectives

After considering this resource, you should be aware of some of the ethical challenges for social workers in balancing people's rights to make their own decisions against promoting their well-being and safety.

Photograph of a woman

Ethical issues are a constant presence in the work you do with service users. For example, you are required to think how to behave with service users or how far you should intervene in someone's life, as well as ensuring the promotion of equality in these decisions.

Makosi works for a specialist team for older people. In the following case study, she talks about the ethical issues she faced when a service user, Mrs Brown, was referred to the agency after a fall at home.

Download: Audio transcript

Reflective Questions

  1. What do you think the main conflict is here for Makosi?
  2. How might your chosen course of action differ if Mrs Brown was referred to as a 'service user', a 'client' or 'customer'?
  3. How might the Professional Code of Ethics impact the dilemma Makosi was faced with?
  4. Makosi says she wasn't sure how far to persuade or coerce Mrs Brown to accept help. What would you do in the same situation?
Case studies