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BJSW Advance Access originally published online on September 8, 2006
British Journal of Social Work 2007 37(8):1405-1423; doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcl088
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© The Author 2006. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Dual Relationships: Personal and Professional Boundaries in Rural Social Work

Richard Pugh

Dr. Richard Pugh is reader in social work at Keele University.

Correspondence to Dr. Richard Pugh, School of Criminology, Education, Sociology and Social Work, Keele University, Keele, Staffordshire, ST5 5BG. E-mail: SPA08{at}keele.ac.uk


  Abstract

Social workers in rural areas often live and work in the communities that they serve. Consequently, they may have, or later develop, dual relationships with service users. These ‘out of hours’ connections raise some complex issues about how social workers conduct their practice and comport themselves socially within the wider community. This paper reviews the notion of dual relationships and assesses the schema proposed for assessing their ethical probity. Its conclusion is that the practical realities of rural practice challenge absolutist conceptions of confidentiality and undermine assumptions of objectivity and neutrality in professional stance.

Keywords: dual relationships, confidentiality, rural social work


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