BJSW Advance Access published online on October 14, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp106
Professional Boundaries: Crossing a Line or Entering the Shadows?
Professor Mark Doel is Research Professor of Social Work in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research (CHSCR) at Sheffield Hallam University and his research publications concern social work practice education, social work in groups and international perspectives on social work. Dr. Peter Allmark is Principal Lecturer in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research (CHSCR) at Sheffield Hallam University and his research publications in health care ethics and philosophy; his recent focus is ethics and public health. Paul Conway is the Information Adviser for Social Work, Learning and Information Services. Dr. Malcolm Cowburn is Principal Lecturer in Criminology at Sheffield Hallam University; his research publications concern prisons, sex offenders, masculinities, diversity and the application of ethics in research and practice. Dr. Margaret Flynn is the Independent Chair of Lancashire County Council's Adult Safeguarding Board, an editor of the Journal of Adult Protection and a Senior Associate of CPEA Ltd. Pete Nelson is Principal Lecturer in the Department of Social Work, Social Care and Community Studies at Sheffield Hallam University and his teaching and research concern social work values and ethics, social work practice learning and social work with children and families. Dr. Angela Tod is a Prinicipal Research Fellow in the Centre for Health and Social Care Research at Sheffield Hallam University. Her research publications concern nursing, public health, health inequalities and ethics.
Correspondence to Professor Mark Doel, Ph.D., MA (Oxon), CQSW, Research Professor of Social Work, Centre for Health and Social Care Research, Sheffield Hallam University, 32 Collegiate Crescent, Sheffield S10 2BJ, UK. E-mail: m.doel{at}shu.ac.uk or doel{at}waitrose.com
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Abstract |
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This article explores the professional boundaries guidance for social workers. It presents research findings from the formal literature, from agency codes of practice, from telephone interviews with regulatory and professional bodies and from an exercise using ‘snowballing techniques’ in which informants responded to brief scenarios illustrating boundary dilemmas. The findings suggest that formal research plays little part in the guidance that individuals use to help them determine professional boundaries. Similarly, only 10–15 per cent of informants made regular reference to regulatory and professional codes of practice, with an even smaller percentage quoting specific sections from these codes. A slightly larger group (15–20 per cent) made fairly regular reference to their agency's policy documents. However, a clear majority relied on their own sense of what is appropriate or inappropriate, and made their judgements with no reference to any formal guidance. Agency guidance tended to ignore the ambiguous areas of practice and seemed to act as an insurance policy, brought out and dusted off when something goes awry. The authors caution against ever-increasing bullet points of advice and prescription, and advance a notion of ethical engagement in which professionals exercise their ethical senses through regular discussion of professional boundary dilemmas.
Keywords: Professional boundaries, professional ethics, code of practice, professional relationship, practice dilemmas