Professional Boundaries: An Analysis of Violations by Social Workers

Abstract

The violation of professional boundaries represents the most troubling of ethics transgressions. Encompassing sexual activities, dual relationships, and poor clinical practices, this area includes not only clearly illegal or unethical behaviors, but also actions that may be unwise only in the context in which they occurred. This article presents the findings of a recent study that examined ethics complaints against social workers and revealed that 56.1% of the cases in which there were violations involved some form of boundary infraction. The body of literature on boundary violations is examined in light of these findings and recommendations are offered for enhancing practitioner education, supervision, and self-awareness to reduce the incidence of these ethics breaches.