2 peer responses due in 12 hours

  Respond to at least two of your classmates 

KORIE POST:

If you are actively striving to do “good,” how far does that obligation take you?

– My obligation as a volunteer to run a community violence-prevention program working with gang members is to protect the children. I have given my word that I will help these children fix their lives and listen to them. I want to make sure that these children are taken care of in their homes and that they are not in any real danger.

If the police know that I work work these children I have an obligation to these children. I would not put myself or the children into any danger.

-If the children tell me information that would lead to others or themselves into danger I would tell them that I have to speak up that it is my duty to do that. And, I would tell. The community and all of it’s people need to be taken care of and protected. These children have no adult to depend on and direct them into the correct path, as other people have either failed them or left them. They need people who are ethically going to stand by them and help them in a time of need.

If there are issues affecting the community that have nothing to do directly with the one you’re concerned with, do you nonetheless have an obligation to become involved?

– I would not say that I have nothing to do with something that is not directly concerned with me, but if it is about the community or the children that I am working with then yes I have an ethically moral obligation to become involved to make things right.

What if you don’t really understand the whole situation, and your involvement may do as much harm as good—do you still have an ethical obligation to support or become active on the right side?

– I would not stick my nose into business that does not affect me, my community or the children that I am working with. If someone came up to me and was telling me about information, I would want to fully understand so then I can make a ethically correct decision on what to do. I do not want to do any harm to anyone or any situation my by myself not fully fully understanding the situation.

What if your support or activism endangers or compromises your community intervention?

– Sometimes having social action can make a positive change for taking action of the community. Making the changes in the community ethically can make a change for the people that are living in it. We need to be the activism of our communities to make that change for a better, healthier, world for our children.

“Activism is quite simply taking action to effect social change; this can occur in a myriad of ways and in a variety of forms. Often it is concerned with ‘how to change the world’ through social, political, economic or environmental change. This can be led by individuals but is often done collectively through social movements”.

I would not want to do anything that would endanger or compromise the community and the children that I am working with.

Introduction to Activism

CARMEN POST:

Systems and professional Integrity – Community Violence-Prevention Program

As we have learned through-out this week, professional integrity in the workplace is showing appropriate ethical behavior through honesty, respect, and being trustworthy. According to Eriksen (2015) introduction professional integrity is often emphasized as the virtue that gives us reason to trust role holders to place professional standards above self-interest. When we look at professional integrity systems, we look at communities in a macro level. Not only geographic location but as Homes (2008) stated “A community is a number of people who share a distinct location, belief, interest, activity, or other characteristic that clearly identifies their commonality and differentiates them from those not sharing it” (p. 98). As the scenario provided the community is kids who are gang member or gang hangers-on, who have suffered from community violence and are engaging in services to prevention future community violence or further harm to these kids.

You have volunteered to run a community violence-prevention program, working with kids who are gang members or gang hangers-on. The kids trust you, and sometimes tell you about some of their less-than-savory activities. The police also know you work with gang members and often ask you for information about kids. What are you obligated to tell them or to keep from them?

As we discussed during week three, regarding confidentiality, privacy and privileged but also our duty to warn and protect. Although we have this connection with the police we also have a contract with our client that stops us from providing any information to not only the police but anyone. According to Cram et. al. (1993) confidentiality implies “an explicit contract or promise not to reveal anything about a client, except under circumstances agreed to by both sources and subject. Confidentiality is more of ethical duty and can be easily used interchangeably.  The kids have a right to privacy, which is a basic human right, it reflects the right of an individual to control how much of his or her thoughts, feelings, or other personal information can be shared with others (Cram et. al. (1993). In addition, Cram et. al (1993) refer to privileged communication as a “legal term that describes the quality of certain specific types of relationships that prevent information, acquired in such relationships, from being disclosed in court or other legal proceedings. The only time I am obligated to tell the police anything is when the kid/ client is causing harm to him/her self or other.  According to Felthous et. al., (2001) stated, that the clinician’s duty is to warn foreseeable and identifiable victims of a patient’s potential for violence, or to control the violent patient, the ultimate purpose of the duty is the same: to protect third persons from serious harm. According to Felthous et. al., (2001) Duty to Warn refers to warn identifiable victims, whereas Duty to protect refers to the responsibility of mental health professionals to protect patients and others from foreseeable harm. 

If you are actively striving to do “good,” how far does that obligation take you?

I am very passionate in helping others and providing support to my client. I strive to learn and obtain all resources necessary to help my community. I am obligated to continue my education when I feel I am incompetent in an area. I will strive to continue my education as I am obligated to do no harm to my clients/ kids in this case.   

If there are issues affecting the community that have nothing to do directly with the one you’re concerned with, do you nonetheless have an obligation to become involved?

As a professional any injustice in my community would require me to become involved because not only am I ethically obligated but at some point, it can affect my community in a macro level.

What if you don’t really understand the whole situation, and your involvement may do as much harm as good—do you still have an ethical obligation to support or become active on the right side?

When there are ethical dilemmas it is important to assess the situation before becoming hands on. I feel that I would be mindful about the situation and inquire other professionals who might have more insight on the dilemma at hand. I would say it is important to follow the ethics model of decision-making. According to Ling et al. (2019), the Ethics model is appropriated for any situation. The steps of the model are: evaluate the dilemma, think ahead, help information, calculate risk, and select an action. If here is risk for engaging I would step back and reassess at a letter time if needed.

What if your support or activism endangers or compromises your community intervention?

This would be devastating, but I feel that I would be able to step back. Understand that this might be a professional limit and I need more guidance and support. According to Allvin et al. (2020) report that assessing of competence of oneself and need for further training helps to identify areas for quality improvement, and to design interventions in order to facilitate continuous competence development in different work context. I am always open to learning new things that would help my community grow.

Reference

Allvin, R., Bisholt, B., Blomberg, K., Bååth, C., & Wangensteen, S. (2020). Self-assessed competence and need for further training among registered nurses in somatic hospital wards in Sweden: a cross-sectional survey. BMC Nursing, 19(1), 1–11. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1186/s12912-020-00466-2

Cram, S. J., & Dobson, K. S. (1993). Confidentiality: ethical and legal aspects for Canadian psychologists. Canadian Psychology, 34(3), 347-363. https://search-proquest-com.proxy-library.ashford.edu/docview/220810355?accountid=32521

Eriksen, A. (2015). What is professional integrity? Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics / Etikk i Praksis, 9(2), 36–17. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.5324/eip.v9i2.1836 (Links to an external site.)

Felthous, A. R., & Kachigian, C. (2001). To warn and to control: Two distinct legal obligations or variations of a single duty to protect? Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 19(3), 355–373. https://doi-org.proxy-library.ashford.edu/10.1002/bsl.451

Homan, M. (2008). Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole, Cengage Learning.