4.1 Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives
Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals
STANDARD 28: Human service professionals must pursue relevant consultation and supervision to guide their decision-making in the face of legal, ethical, or other complex dilemmas (NOHS, 2024).
One of the defining factors of a profession is that it contains a code of ethics—a written statement of values, ethical principles, and standards that meet an agreed-upon level of quality in selected areas. In this chapter, we examine the Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals adopted by the National Organization for Human Services (NOHS). Standards provide a level of quality for professional behavior to meet. Depending on where you work and what your role is, you may use one of these codes or another set of standards entirely. In addition, you will have workplace standards and governmental laws that regulate your work. Ethical Standard 28 refers to the responsibility that you have to consult and review when there is an ethical, legal, or another dilemma that you face in your work.
Learning Objectives
- Recognize the value of codes of ethical standards.
- Describe the NOHS Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals.
- Relate the NOHS code of ethical standards, personal values, and the social justice implications.
- Apply the code of ethical standards to identified dilemmas.
Key Terms
Key terms are important vocabulary for understanding the content of the chapters. They will be bolded and defined via an in-text glossary the first time that they appear in the chapter.
Key terms for this chapter are:
- Code of ethics: one of the distinguishing features of a profession, it sets standards and values for workers to uphold.
- Dilemma: a situation in which one has to make a choice between two options that have competing values and are equally unfavorable.
- Ethics: moral principles.
- National Association of Social Workers (NASW): a professional organization for social workers and those studying social work.
- National Organization of Human Services (NOHS): a professional association for human services professionals and those studying human services.
- Professionalism: the conduct, qualities, and qualifications recognized as part of a profession.
- Social problem: any condition or behavior that has negative consequences for large numbers of people and that is generally recognized as a condition or behavior that needs to be addressed. Multiple factors contribute to the complexity of social problems. Typically the solution to the problem needs to be systemic in nature; in other words, it cannot be solved by any one individual.
- Standards: provide a level of quality for professionals, educators, and students’ behavior to meet.
- Law: a system or set of rules created by legislative bodies of a governmental system of a town, state, or country. (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2024)
- Regulations: Specific agencies write rules to support laws written by legislative bodies, creating guidelines to oversee how those laws will be carried out specifically in particular practice areas. An example of this would be the Clean Water Act (a law) affecting the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to create regulations for that law to be carried out.
Licenses and Attributions
“Chapter Overview and Learning Objectives” by Elizabeth B. Pearce is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
a paid career that involves education, formal training and/or a formal qualification.
moral principles.
Agreed upon level of quality in selected areas.
a professional field focused on helping people solve their problems.
a situation in which one has to make a choice between two options that have competing values and are equally unfavorable.
viewpoints and efforts toward every person receiving and obtaining equal economic and social opportunities; removal of systemic barriers.