Monday, January 22, 2018

NASW Code of Ethics Changes

To pass the licensing exam, you have to have a good grasp on the NASW Code of Ethics. And to pass it after January 1st, 2018, you have to know the new version of the code.

Here it is.

What's changed? Not an enormous amount, but enough to warrant some determined review. The main areas that have been updated relate to tech. There are new guidelines for Internet searches, social media, and the like. You can just read the code and see if you notice the changes. Or, maybe better, turn to an expert or two for their run-down: Here's Alan Barsky enumerating the changes. And here's Fredrik Reamer in Social Work Today doing the same.

There's also a new ASWB content outline (find it at aswb.org). Professional values and ethics, once 18% of the exam, has gotten a meager boost to 19%. That's nearly one in five questions you'll face that will be rooted in the code. It's very much worth your while to get it known. Happy reading, happy testing. Good luck!

2 comments:

Erika said...

I have an ethics question. I'm currently working on my studies to become a lcsw. I often see them working as a team the lcsw, victims advocate, forensic nurse. If during the course of providing counseling the patient dies. Is there an ethical consideration to inform the other 2 ( victims advocate and forensic nurse ) or does privacy laws prevent this?

The LCSW Exam said...

Erika, In most cases there'd be paperwork in place allowing the team to share confidential information. If there's no client agreement about team disclosure, pretty sure confidentiality wins the day, even after death.