Identification of the Ethical Sensitivity

Running head: ETHICS
ETHICS
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

ETHICS1
Identification of the ethical sensitivity, integrating the personal and professional values
Personal ethical values are standards, using which an individual judges a behaviour to be
right or wrong. The ethical expectations often take the form of principles like concerns for the
well-being of the others, trustworthiness and honesty and preventing harm to the others (Shapiro
and Gross 2013). My personal ethics includes the values like respect, honesty, fairness. Hence,
while making an ethical decision, these are the four values that guides my decision. A
practitioner’s professional ethics should be to respect the rights, dignity, integrity, privacy,
compassionate caring, and a sense of responsibility towards the clients (Shapiro and Stefkovich
2016). With respect to this scenario, before making any ethical decision, it is necessary to
consider that the client is not harmed in any situation. Again, it is necessary to keep in mind that
a therapist is ethically as well as legally obligated to treat within their scope of practice.
Stakeholders and sociocultural context of the case
The stakeholders in relation to this case are Ron, the clinical social worker, Arthur , the
10 years old patient with ADD with hyperactivity and Ron’s parents . Arthur had been receiving
family therapy, education and support. However, it seemed that Arthur’s father was not very
comfortable was doubtful about the effectiveness of such family therapies and recommended
individual sessions. They are of the opinion that Ron had not been successful in doing his job
properly. It is necessary to understand the attention deficit hypersensitivity disorder (ADHD) is
highly affects multiple facets of social life. Hence, children suffering from ADHD are at high
risk of stigma, prejudices and discrimination. Stigma had always affected treatment adherence,
efficacy in treatment (Mueller et al. 2017). Hence, there can be a chance that Arthur’s parents are
facing stigma, due to their child and hence wants this to be resolved as soon as possible. It is

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necessary to understand the health beliefs of the family as lack of the health literacy compels
them to take odd decisions, or in this case they might have been recommended by some family
members or friends, about the effectiveness of individual therapy, but has necessarily forgotten
the types of conditions, for which individual therapies are suitable. Again, certain websites
provides anecdotal records or incorrect information about the actual treatment of ADHD.
Arthur’s father might have followed them and have inferred that his son is not receiving proper
treatment.
Central issue of dilemma and the available options
The central dilemma in this case study is that Ron is being forced to take up individual
therapy with Arthur, or else Arthur’s parents have decided to drop out from the therapy, even if
individual therapy is not suitable for this kind of disorder. Arthur, being a child is unable to take
decision of his own therapy and the entire decision is taken by his parents. Being a therapist, it is
his duty to abide by the client’s wishes, but it is also necessary that patient safety will be at the
first place and should never be compromised in any way. Hence, an ethical dilemma lies as of
which action should be chosen by the therapist (Reamer 2013). Patients and their family often
fails to comply with the recommendations for the treatment and the non-compliance has a wide
variety of manifestations. A non-compliance often strains the relationship between the patient
and the physician forcing the therapist to take an active part in the treatment. In this case, it is the
duty of the parents to rely on the treatment of a professional, but they are more guided by
emotions and wanted to get a drastic visible results. In this case the principle of ethical
leadership that is at stake is respect (Flite and Harman 2013). There are certain common
emotions that are often faced by the therapists as well as the client and the family during the
course of the treatment. With the establishment of a therapeutic relationship with the client, it is