LMSW LMSW Social Work Ethics and Values Questions and Answers 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker is seeing a client who is also dating someone the worker knows personally. This creates a:
- Mandatory reportable conflict
- Dual relationship requiring careful boundary management or transfer of care (Correct answer)
- Situation requiring immediate case termination without referral
- Non-issue because personal and professional lives are separate
Correct answer: Dual relationship requiring careful boundary management or transfer of care
Dual relationships that could impair professional judgment or exploit the client must be disclosed and managed, potentially requiring referral.
Question 2: In Loewenberg and Dolgoff's Ethical Principles Screen, which principle takes the highest priority when resolving ethical dilemmas?
- Equality and Inequality
- Protection of Life (Correct answer)
- Autonomy and Freedom
- Least Harm
Correct answer: Protection of Life
Loewenberg and Dolgoff rank Protection of Life (Principle 1) as the highest priority in their seven-principle hierarchy for resolving ethical dilemmas.
Question 3: A social worker uses a session with a grief client to process their own recent personal loss, shifting focus away from the client's needs. This is an example of:
- Countertransference leading to boundary violation (Correct answer)
- Appropriate self-disclosure to build therapeutic rapport
- Parallel process benefiting both worker and client
- Compassion fatigue requiring immediate clinical supervision
Correct answer: Countertransference leading to boundary violation
Using client sessions to meet the worker's own emotional needs constitutes countertransference and a boundary violation that places the worker's needs above the client's.
Question 4: A social worker receives a subpoena demanding release of a client's confidential psychotherapy notes. The worker should:
- Immediately comply with the subpoena and release all records
- Consult legal counsel, notify the client, and seek a protective order if appropriate before releasing psychotherapy notes (Correct answer)
- Destroy the notes to prevent disclosure
- Release only the notes the worker believes are relevant
Correct answer: Consult legal counsel, notify the client, and seek a protective order if appropriate before releasing psychotherapy notes
A subpoena does not automatically require disclosure; psychotherapy notes have additional protections, and the worker should seek legal guidance and client input before responding.
Question 5: Cultural humility, as distinct from cultural competence, emphasizes:
- Acquiring comprehensive knowledge of all cultures served
- Ongoing self-reflection, lifelong learning, and recognition of power imbalances in cross-cultural practice (Correct answer)
- Matching social workers to clients of the same cultural background
- Applying evidence-based cultural protocols consistently across client populations
Correct answer: Ongoing self-reflection, lifelong learning, and recognition of power imbalances in cross-cultural practice
Cultural humility prioritizes the practitioner's ongoing self-awareness and openness over mastery of cultural content, acknowledging that no one fully 'masters' another's culture.
Question 6: A social worker in a school setting becomes aware that a 16-year-old student is engaging in consensual sexual activity with a same-age peer. Under mandatory reporting laws in most US states, the social worker is:
- Required to report because any sexual activity by a minor is reportable
- Not required to report consensual peer sexual activity between minors of similar age under typical statutory exemptions (Correct answer)
- Required to notify parents but not child protective services
- Required to report only if one partner is under 14
Correct answer: Not required to report consensual peer sexual activity between minors of similar age under typical statutory exemptions
Most states include 'Romeo and Juliet' or close-in-age exemptions that exclude consensual peer sexual activity between adolescents of similar ages from mandatory reporting requirements.
Question 7: The concept of 'informed consent' in social work practice requires that the client:
- Sign a standard form provided by the agency
- Receive information about services in understandable language, have the capacity to consent, and agree voluntarily without coercion (Correct answer)
- Consent only once at the beginning of treatment
- Have consent witnessed by a third party for it to be valid
Correct answer: Receive information about services in understandable language, have the capacity to consent, and agree voluntarily without coercion
Valid informed consent requires disclosure of relevant information, client comprehension, decision-making capacity, and voluntary agreement — it is an ongoing process, not a one-time event.
LMSW LMSW Social Work Ethics and Values Questions and Answers 5
A social worker is seeing a client who is also dating someone the worker knows personally.
This creates a: