Upcoming Special Issues

Upcoming Special Issues

Welcome to the second issue of The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics! If you are a practitioner, we hope that this issue brings insight for your area of practice. If you are an educator, we hope this issue enhances and facili tates the infusion of values and ethical content into your curriculum. Last, but certainly not least, if you are a student, we hope this issue guides you in your current and future practice and provides great philosophical insights that will induce your professor to award you with nothing less than an A.

The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics is always seeking new and exciting themes for the advancement of knowledge in the arena of social work values and ethics. With this in mind, the editorial board is seeking manuscripts for two upcoming special issues.

The first special topic includes values and ethics within the context of technological advances in social work practice and education. At last count, we have identified 5,000 Internet sites that offer clinical intervention. What are the ethical concerns for practitioners, administrators, and agency policy makers? Practitioners and consumers are increasingly communicating by e-mail, and some practitioners are receiving unsolicited e-mail requests for help. Online self-help groups are an important source of support for many of the general population. How have recent advances in technology affected housing of client records and confidentiality? The list of concerns related technological advances goes on. We are interested in manuscripts on these topics and hope that you will work with us toward this goal.

Our second special topic issue addresses the topic of academic dishonesty or, if you embrace the "strengths model"--academic honesty. Currently, surveys suggest a range of between 34 and 87 percent of students who have cheated at some time. Data indicate that we are facing a rapidly increasing level of cheating. In her book entitled Preventing Internet Plagiarism, Dr. Brock offers us guidelines for dealing with students. What are the practice implications for student social workers cheating? Do they take short cuts with clients? With 28 years of teaching under my belt, I have experienced that unethical behavior may be transferred to practice. What experiences and information can you share with readers of The Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics? To what extent is cheating ignorance, and to what extent is it purposeful unethical behavior? What should be done in either case? What steps should be taken in assessing cheating? What consequences should be imposed? What prevents some educators and students from confronting cheating? Consider submitting a manuscript to us.

Steve Marson, Senior Editor
Jerry Finn, Co-Editor