Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences. In previous weeks, you studied theoretical perspectives on couple and family treatment that were quite varied in their framework of how best to facilitate relational change. The majority of theoretical discussions, however, do not highlight the full breadth of relational variety found in todayâs couples and families.

This week, you begin to scratch the surface of the potential diversity of todayâs couples and families as you explore the impact of culture, gender, and sexual orientation on familial dynamics. You also consider the ethical issues potentially present in working with such families and couples.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

Analyze challenges related to applying theoretical orientation to cultural considerations when working with couples and families
Analyze culturally sensitive and responsive evidence-based interventions
Analyze professional code of ethics related to ethical issues

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this weekâs required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Required Readings

Shaw, E. (2015). Special issue: Ethics in couple and family therapy. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Family Therapy, 36(4), 403-408.

Keskin, Y. (2017). The relational ethics genogram: An integration of genogram and relational ethics. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 28(1), 92-98.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Optional Resources

Use the link below to access the MSW home page, which provides resources for your social work program.

MSW home page

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Discussion: Culturally Sensitive and Responsive Counseling

When you begin work with couples and families, you likely will conclude after only a few cases that all couples and families are different in at least a few ways. Members of these couples and families individually belong to many different population subgroups, with each group exerting cultural influence. Based on conflict resolution traditions or power distance index of a certain culture, for instance, you may need to modify the theoretical approach you take with a client with that background.

Keep in mind that the classroom study of theory and intervention integration cannot provide a description of how to modify or tailor your theory to all the potential relational and cultural presentations you will see. It should, however, provide you with a solid foundation and a toolbox with which to work.

For this Discussion, select a cultural consideration (related to race, ethnicity, religion, gender, sexual orientation, etc.) and think about how this consideration may impact the application of your theoretical orientation when working with couples and families. Then, reflect on how you might modify interventions in professional work in which this consideration is present.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

By Day 4

Post a brief description of the cultural consideration you selected. Then, explain two challenges of applying your theoretical orientation to address this cultural consideration when working with couples and families. Explain how you might modify evidence-based interventions to be more culturally sensitive and responsive. Justify your response using evidence-based articles.

Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the resources.

Read a selection of your colleagues’ postings.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

By Day 6

Respond to two of your colleagues’ postings in one or more of the following ways:

Ask a probing question.
Share an insight from having read your colleague’s posting.
Offer and support an opinion.
Make a suggestion.
Expand on your colleague’s posting.

Return to this Discussion in a few days to read the responses to your initial posting. Note what you have learned and/or any insights you have gained as a result of the comments your colleagues made.

Submission and Grading Information

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Grading Criteria

To access your rubric:

Week 11 Discussion Rubric

Post by Day 4 and Respond by Day 6

To participate in this Discussion:

Week 11 Discussion

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Assignment: Addressing Ethical Issues

Helping professionals often face difficult decisions in their work that may have ethical ramifications. Ethical dilemmas span all areas of your professional practice from confidentiality and privacy to cultural considerations. For this Assignment, you concentrate on cultural considerations that may pose challenges to ethical practice. (Culture is broadly defined here as the behaviors, traditions, and/or beliefs of any subgroup.)

Select one of the two case studies below to use for this assignment. After analyzing the case study, consider how you might address the issues present using your professional practice code of ethics.

Review the case studies below before completing the Assignment.

Week 11 Cultural and Ethical Consequences.

Case Study #1

Nitin and Priya are first-generation Indian-American immigrants, while their 16-year-old son was born and raised in the United States. They were reluctant to engage in treatment, but are doing so at the request of their son, Sujay. In Sujayâs view, his parents are being overly controlling regarding his upcoming choice of college, which is causing increasingly frequent clashes between him and his parents. Sujay wants to attend art school, while his parents want him to attend engineering school.

They state that a career in science, religion, law, or medicine is the appropriate path for a person of his caste. Sujay claims that while he wants to please his parents, he feels they are stifling his passion and imposing cultural norms that, to him, are a part of their âworldâ and not his. You have little knowledge of Indian culture or the caste system and are unsure whether the issue at hand is a matter of controlling parents dealing with a life transition issue or a serious conflict involving social and cultural influences.

Case Study #2

Nicole and Julia explain to you that their relationship has felt strained lately and that they fear they are heading for a breakup. The couple explain to you that they have been in a long-term, non-monogamous relationship, but that lately, Nicole has expressed desire to change this practice.

Julia feels that Nicole is âchanging the rules halfway through the gameâ and that her sexual relationships with others are of no consequence to how she feels about Nicole. Their current relationship practice conflicts with your own personal opinion about the role of monogamy in relationships, and thus you feel conflicted about how to handle the situation.