Social Workers and the Nasw Code of Ethics: Belief, Behavior, Disjuncture

A quantitative descriptive survey of a national sample of 500 U. S. social workers examined discrepancies between belief in the NASW Code of Ethics and behavior implementing the Code, as well as social workers' disjunctive distress(disjuncture) when belief and behavior are discordant. Relationships between setting and disjuncture, and ethics education and disjuncture were also examined. Variables were measured by an instrument based upon the NASW Code of Ethics. The instrument incorporated a validated scale,the Abbott Personal Opinions Scale. Findings indicated disjuncture when belief and behavior scores were discordant; lower disjuncture occurred when behavior was congruent with the Code; and disjuncture increased with non- congruent behavior. Belief in the Code did not influence behavior congruent with the Code. There were significant disjuncture score differences among different work settings. Disjuncture scores were highest in public agencies and lowest in private agencies. Lower discordance of belief and behavior scores and lower belief scores occurred among those who took separate ethics courses.