Mandated prevention in child welfare: Considerations from a framework shaping ethical inquiry

Summary: This article outlines a framework for approaching ethical dilemmas arising from the development, evaluation and implementation of child welfare policies. As such, it is relevant to policy-makers, social researchers and social workers. The central tenets of the framework are developed by drawing on ideas from moral philosophy and critical social theory. These ideas are presented as axioms, theorems and corollaries, a format which has been employed in the social sciences to offer a rational justification for a set of claims. • Findings: This process of reasoning leads to four principle axioms that are seen to shape the ethical scrutiny of social policy: 1) problematizing knowledge; 2) utilizing structured forms of inquiry to enhance understanding; 3) engendering enabling communication with those affected by the ethical concern; and 4) enhancing self-awareness. • Applications: The four axioms are then applied, by way of example, to the current and contentious, 'third way' policy of mandated prevention in child welfare, where the aim is to obviate deleterious outcomes in later life. It is argued that the framework can be applied beyond this specific concern to other pressing, ethical challenges in child welfare.

Preliminary Research Findings : Volunteers in Queensland State Government

As 2001 was the International Year of the Volunteer as it seemed timely to look at the legal, social and political frameworks which provide for the long term growth of volunteers. The focus of this research is on the nature and extent of volunteers in the Queensland State Government. The social capital debate (expanded by Robert Putnam in 1995) is about citizens’ participation in extracurricular activities and has been extended to mean a collective intelligence – a capacity as a people to create the society we want. The volunteer phenomenon has been used to indicate social and ethical concern.

Pressure placed on paediatric haematopoietic stem cell donors: Views from health professionals

Aim Paediatric haematopoietic stem cell donors undergo non-therapeutic procedures and endure known and unknown physical and psychosocial risks for the benefit of a family member. One ethical concern is the risk they may be pressured by parents or health professionals to act as a donor. This paper adds to what is known about this topic by presenting the views of health professionals. Methods This qualitative study involved semi-structured interviews with 14 health professionals in Australasia experienced in dealing with paediatric donors. Transcripts were analysed using established qualitative methodologies. Results Health professionals considered that some paediatric donors experience pressure to donate. Situations were identified that were likely to increase the risk of pressure being placed on donors and views were expressed about the ethical ‘appropriateness’ of these practices within the family setting. Conclusions Children may be subject to pressure from family and health professionals to be tested and act as donors, Therefore, our ethical obligation to these children extends to implementing donor focused processes – including independent health professionals and the appointment of a donor advocate – to assist in detecting and addressing instances of inappropriate pressure being placed on a child.

What is voice? Issues of identity and representation in the framing of reviews

There is a well-founded ethical concern in the present regarding the question Ήow can we include everybody's voice equally in the framing of reviews?' This paper is a response to the complexities that inhere in that question. It is not about Review of Educational Research (RER) as a specific site but about the systems of reasoning that construct the opening question about reviews and that suggest possible answers, including the response: 'What is voice?'

Home is Where the Human is?:Ethics, Intervention and Hospitality in Kosovo

The human is frequently made central to the way international ethics is thought and practiced. Yet, frequently, the human can be used to close down ethical options rather than open them up. This article examines the case of British foreign policy in Kosovo. It argues that the human in this context was placed at the centre of ethical action, but was discursively constructed as a silent, biopolitial mass which could only be saved close to its territorially qualified home. It could not be protected by being brought to the UK. To remain human, the subject of ethical concern, the Kosovan refugee, had to remain near Kosovo. This construction of the human-home relationship meant that military humanitarian intervention became the only ethical policy available; hospitality, a welcoming of the Kosovan refugee into the British home, was ruled out. This article questions such a construction of the human, listening to the voices of Kosovan refugees to open up the relationship between the human and its home. The complexity that results shows that a more nuanced view of the human would not allow itself to be co-opted so easily to a simplistic logic of intervention. Rather, it could enable the possibility of hospitality as another way of practicing international ethics.

Multiprofessional Views on Older Patients' Participation in Care Planning Meetings in a Hospital Context

Care planning meetings (CPMs; sometimes referred to as family meetings) for older patients involve group decision-making between the multidisciplinary team, the older person and their family. However, service user participation is challenged by the inequity of knowledge and power between participants, together with organisational and resource pressures for timely discharge. The effective use and perhaps, potential misuse of communication strategies within CPMs is of ethical concern to all participants. Habermas' essential critique of participatory communication provides insight as to how older people's involvement can be either enabled or blocked by healthcare professionals (HCPs) depending on their use of communication strategies. Seven discipline-specific mini-focus groups provided an opportunity for HCPs to reflect on the participation of patients over 65 and their families in CPMs. Findings explore HCPs' understanding of older patients involvement based on key dimensions of communicative participation, namely, mutuality, inclusiveness, patient centredness and clear outcomes. Whilst the benefits of collaborative decision-making were confirmed, legitimate concerns as to the quality of participatory practices, limited attention to group work processes and the exclusion of older patients with cognitive impairment were identified. © 2013 Copyright British Association of Social Workers.

L'évolution de l'éthique des affaires aux États-Unis (1961-2002): la théorie institutionnelle en action

En dépit de toute l'histoire philosophique et théologique qui a relié l'éthique à l'économie, l'éthique des affaires comme champ de recherche est véritablement né aux États-Unis à la fin des années 1960. Nous avons identifié trois périodes dans l'évolution de l'éthique des affaires aux États-Unis: (1) les prolégomènes d'un intérêt porté à l'éthique dans le milieu des affaires américain (1961-1976); (2) l'effervescence d'une préoccupation éthique dans les grandes entreprises américaines (1977-1990); (3) l'instrumentalisation de l'éthique supportée par l'appareil gouvernemental (1991-2002). À travers ces trois périodes, nous ferons ressortir l'apport des recherches les plus marquantes en éthique des affaires, qu'elles aient adopté une perspective descriptive, normative ou analytique.

L’Assistance Ventriculaire définitive : un groupe de cOdéveloppement profeSsionnel en Soutien aux sOins INfirmierS pour développer des compétences éthiques- Projet A-VOS-SOINS

Rapport de stage présenté à la Faculté des sciences infirmières en vue de l'obtention du grade de Maître ès sciences (M.Sc.) en sciences infirmières option expertise-conseil en soins infirmiers

Destruction, puissance et limites du cinéma dans les films d'Ozu Yasujirô

Cette thèse de doctorat se rapporte aux films du cinéaste japonais Ozu Yasujirô (1903-1963) suivant l'hypothèse principale que les enjeux de la destruction qui y sont mis en scène, sous la forme de la disparition des liens familiaux et de la mort, ne peuvent être éclairés par la narration, dont le caractère non dramatique est notoire. En figurant la dislocation de la famille, les films d'Ozu rendent plutôt compte de la vulnérabilité du monde à la prise cinématographique : la destructivité du médium s'y énonce comme sa capacité à mobiliser ce qui entre dans son champ et à le transformer en faire-valoir de son aptitude à produire des effets. Cette étude fait ainsi apparaître les images animées, en tant qu'elles relèvent de la logique technique régie par la modernité, comme une forme de désastre, qui atteint la famille comme expérience de la communauté, c'est-à-dire comme rapport constitutif à un hors-de-soi. Mais à cette destructivité fait également face, au sein même de la pratique cinématographique d'Ozu, une autre possibilité du cinéma, qui peut restaurer ces liens menacés. Cette étude du cinéma d'Ozu montre sa profonde affinité avec la pensée du désœuvrement élaborée par Giorgio Agamben, les films du cinéaste et les travaux du philosophe s'éclairant mutuellement. Le concept de désœuvrement permet de reconsidérer les enjeux essentiels des films d'Ozu à un niveau à la fois thématique et formel, immatériel et matériel, articulant ces deux facettes pour en considérer le registre proprement médiatique. Le propos n'est pas essentiellement esthétique ou formaliste, mais s'intéresse avant tout au travail d'Ozu du point de vue des enjeux éthiques du cinéma, qui se formulent en termes de relation à sa puissance. Celle-ci concerne aussi bien l'attention d'Ozu à la vie collective que le soin qu'il porte aux potentialités expressives du cinéma, c'est-à-dire à la manière dont il se rapporte aux limites de son médium.

Traité de pensée magique pour jeunes adolescents

Au cours de ce texte, je présente d’abord le contenu du livre de Pierre Morency et de Valérie Fontaine, Demande et reçois, chapitre par chapitre. À l’aide d’une série d’affirmations fallacieuses, l’auteur tente de convaincre les jeunes adolescents qu’ils peuvent obtenir tout ce qu’ils désirent. Comment? Il suffit de le demander en évitant de douter, et surtout de laisser de côté tout esprit critique. La deuxième partie comporte six réflexions supplémentaires sur le contenu de ce livre, dont certaines à connotation éthique.

Challenges in Assessing Fish Welfare

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Estética natural e ética ambiental, que relação?

This paper defends that environmental aesthetics provides a consistent basis for environmental philosophy, whereas aesthetic value plays an important role in the defense and preservation of natural areas. For several environmental philosophers the natural beauty is an inherent part of the ethical concern. Leopold states that “a thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, the balance and the beauty of the biotic community”. Notwithstanding, aesthetic value is still not a central issue in the environmental debate. On the other hand, the “positive aesthetics” (Allen Carlson), which is a recent approach that reevaluates “positively” natural beauty in the ethical context, obtains a core of objections. This paper sketches a few arguments defending the contiguity between environmental aesthetics and environmental ethics: (i) the emotional perception of inclusiveness and engagement on the aesthetics appreciation of nature; (ii) the feelings of grace and love toward nature inherent to the nature’s aesthetic appreciation which according Kant announces the moral feeling; (iii) the ecological knowledge of natural beauty in order to understand the full meaning of it, and that includes some natural entities seen as not beautiful.

Ethos and Ideology of Knowledge Organization: Toward Precepts for and Engaged Knowledge Organization Drawing on The Arts and Crafts Movement, Critical Theory, and Žižek

Ethos is the spirit that motivates ideas and practices. When we talk casually about the ethos of a town, state, or country we are describing the fundamental or at least underlying rationale for action, as we see it. Ideology is a way of looking at things.It is the set of ideas that constitute one’s goals, expectations, and actions. In this brief essay I want to create a space where we might talk about the ethos and ideology in knowledge organization from a particular point of view; combining ideas and inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement of the early Twentieth Century, critical theory in extant knowledge organization work, the work of Slavoj Žižek, and the work of Thich Nhat Hahn on Engaged Buddhism.I will expand more below, but we can say here and now that there are many open questions about ethos and ideology in and of knowledge organization, both its practice and products. Many of them in classification, positioned as they are around identity politics of race, gender, and other marginalized groups, ask the classificationist to be mindful of the choice of terms and relationships between terms. From this work we understand that race and gender requires special consideration, which manifests as a particular concern for the form of representation inside extant schemes. Even with these advances in our understanding there are still other categories about which we must make decisions and take action. For example, there are ethical decisions about fiduciary resource allocation, political decisions about standards adoption, and even broader zeitgeist considerations like the question of Fordist conceptions (Day, 2001; Tennis 2006) of the mechanics of description and representation present in much of today’s practice.Just as taking action in a particular way is an ethical concern, so too is avoiding a lack of action. Scholars in Knowledge Organization have also looked at the absence of what we might call right action in the context of cataloguing and classification. This leads to some problems above, and hints at larger ethical concerns of watching a subtle semantic violence go on without intervention (Bowker and Star, 2001; Bade 2006).The problem is not to act or not act, but how to act or not act in an ethical way, or at least with ethical considerations. The action advocated by an ethical consideration for knowledge organization is an engaged one, and it is here where we can take a nod from contemporary ethical theory advanced by Engaged Buddhism. In this context we can see the manifestation of fourteen precepts that guide ethical action, and warn against lack of action.

Comparing the ethical predisposition of university students in five English-speaking countries : an examination of 14 questionable business practices

Recent years have seen intense scrutiny focused on the reported ethical breaches of enterprises across the globe. At the forefront of the accompanying criticism are the actions of giant American firms such as WorldCom, Arthur Anderson, and Enron. However, such deviations from acceptable standards of conduct have not been confined to the American market. Australia endured its era of “corporate excess” in the 1980s [Milton-Smith, 1997]. As a result, a spate of ethics-based research was undertaken in the early 1990s. More recently, China has been identified as a major venue for behavior deemed to be unacceptable, even unsafe. Issues such as counterfeit fashion items, software, and automobile parts have been a concern for several years [Gonzalez, 2007]. Perhaps more disconcerting are the recent recalls of children’s products, many of which were produced for leading toy companies such as Mattel and Fisher-Price, because of the use of dangerous lead-based paint. As one might anticipate, news reports and consumer protection agencies have been quick to condemn any action that falls within the “controversial” category. Indeed, many segments of society characterize such actions as unethical behavior. One result of this increased level of concern is the higher level of attention given to ethics in higher education programs. Even accreditation bodies such as AACSB have virtually mandated the integration of ethics into the curriculum. As a consequence, academicians have ramped up their ethics-based research agendas.

Mapping the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane : a grounded theory approach

The aim of this thesis has been to map the ethical journey of experienced nurses now practising in rural and remote hospitals in central and south-west Queensland and in domiciliary services in Brisbane. One group of the experienced nurses in the study were Directors of Nursing in rural and remote hospitals. These nurses were “hands on”, “multi-skilled “ nurses who also had the task of managing the hospital. Also there were two Directors of Nursing from domiciliary services in Brisbane. A grounded theory method was used. The nurses were interviewed and the data retrieved from the interviews was coded, categorised and from these categories a conceptual framework was generated. The literature which dealt with the subject of ethical decision making and nurses also became part of the data. The study revealed that all these nurses experienced moral distress as they made ethical decisions. The decision making categories revealed in the data were: the area of financial management; issues as end of life approaches; allowing to die with dignity; emergency decisions; experience of unexpected death; the dilemma of providing care in very difficult circumstances. These categories were divided into two chapters: the category related to administrative and financial constraints and categories dealing with ethical issues in clinical settings. A further chapter discussed the overarching category of coping with moral distress. These experienced nurses suffered moral distress as they made ethical decisions, confirming many instances of moral distress in ethical decision making documented in the literature to date. Significantly, the nurses in their interviews never mentioned the ethical principles used in bioethics as an influence in their decision making. Only one referred to lectures on ethics as being an influence in her thinking. As they described their ethical problems and how they worked through them, they drew on their own previous experience rather than any knowledge of ethics gained from nursing education. They were concerned for their patients, they spoke from a caring responsibility towards their patients, but they were also concerned for justice for their patients. This study demonstrates that these nurses operated from the ethic of care, tempered with the ethic of responsibility as well as a concern for justice for their patients. Reflection on professional experience, rather than formal ethics education and training, was the primary influence on their ethical decision making.