Introduction
The human service profession involves addressing the needs of clients from different backgrounds. Human service professionals are often required to interact closely with their clients to understand their needs and address them appropriately. Ethics are essential elements in the human service profession to guide service providers in executing their duties efficiently. Establishing ethics in the human service profession enables the professionals to discharge their duties based on community standards, integrity, and clients’ cultural preferences and personal beliefs. Service professionals tend to have different personal values that may differ from the beliefs of their clients or contrast with the community values. Ethical standards are necessary to guide human service providers in making the right professional decisions without influencing their values.
Discussion
Professions have different fundamental values defining their conduct and ambitions in service delivery. The three core values that form the foundation of my beliefs and attitude toward human service include tolerance, compassion, and acceptance. These values are essential in establishing a solid foundation for my professional growth and for establishing a close relationship with other people. For instance, the value of tolerance is crucial in establishing a peaceful coexistence with society by enabling people to understand and appreciate the diversity of humanity (Corey et al., 2017). Compassion is essential in guiding the service provider to analyze the magnitude of the client’s problem. Through compassion, professionals can give their clients the necessary emotional support to make them comfortable and improve their mental stability (Corey et al., 2017). Lastly, acceptance is a critical value that enables the service professional to accept their personality and beliefs and respect other people’s diversity. The value of acceptance lays a strong foundation for one’s professional growth and enables professionals to handle the challenges of their work positively.
Personal values impact the human service professions in various ways. Positive personal values such as self-determination are essential in motivating human service professionals to work efficiently and deliver services according to their full potential (Ismail et al., 2019). Other values such as integrity and responsibility impact the service profession positively by promoting competency among the service providers and ensuring that client needs are addressed appropriately (Ismail et al., 2019). Additionally, personal values such as empathy tend to enable the service professional to establish a positive relationship with the client and understand their problem by relating to how they feel and the extent to which the problem has affected them.
Personal values may impact the service profession negatively by affecting the quality of the service delivered to clients who do not conform to the service provider’s beliefs. Personal values may restrict service professionals from recognizing the diversity of the service profession and influence them negatively to discriminate against other clients (Corey et al., 2017). Besides, strict values may create a negative relationship between the professional and the clients by making clients uncomfortable to adequately share their experiences and needs with professionals with unwelcoming values (Corey et al., 2017). Such values tend to undermine the trust between the clients and human service professionals that is essential in ensuring quality service delivery.
Professional values are vital for the growth of the service human service profession. These values lay a solid foundation of expectations that guide the conduct of human service professionals and how they should interact with their clients (Poorchangizi et al., 2019). Professional values enable human service providers to prioritize the positive outcomes of their clients’ needs. Furthermore, professional values ensure professionals conduct their operations based on community standards, and their work aims to promote the general welfare of society instead of personal interest.
Professional values may negatively impact the human service profession by restricting the service professionals from exercising their personal beliefs and practices at work. Additionally, professional values tend to subject the service professions to unnecessary pressure by setting standards that only aim to promote the interests of the clients without considering the interests of the professionals. (Poorchangizi et al., 2019). Some values may limit the interaction between the clients and the professionals or colleagues, which can be demoralizing to the professionals. Therefore, when professional values fail to consider the well-being of the professionals, service delivery is greatly affected.
The social expectations of human service professionals aim to ensure that they discharge their duties for the general well-being of society. There are various social responsibilities that human service professionals are expected to exercise. Firstly, professionals in human services are expected to execute their duties without any form of discrimination (Scott, 2022). This responsibility is crucial in promoting efficient service delivery through fairness and equality. Secondly, professionals in human services are expected to exercise cultural sensitivity by acknowledging their culture and respecting other cultures (Scott, 2022). Cultural sensitivity is crucial in ensuring that professionals act within the cultural preferences of their clients and community beliefs. Thirdly, human service professionals must be aware of the community’s social issues (Scott, 2022). Understanding underlying societal issues is essential in enabling human service professionals to formulate appropriate mechanisms for addressing their clients’ needs.
Professional values in the human service profession are closely related to the values in the nursing profession. Some of the vital nursing values include human dignity and autonomy (Rejnö et al., 2020). These values guide nurses in their service delivery and how they interact with the patients. For instance, human dignity requires the nurse to acknowledge the patients’ rights and execute their duties while considering the welfare of their patients. The human service professional values advocate for the client’s dignity by considering their rights to privacy and confidentiality. Regarding autonomy, nurses are encouraged to consider the patient’s right to accept or decline treatment. This value restricts the nurses from interfering with the medical choices of the patients (Rejnö et al., 2020). In the human service professional values, the value of autonomy is depicted by the exaptation that requires the service providers to operate based on the consent of their clients. The significant difference between nursing and human service professional values is that nursing values are more specific than professional values that appear to be general.
Professional values have significantly impacted the quality of services in nursing. For instance, the value of human dignity has enabled nurses to address patients with various conditions with care and compassion (Rejnö et al., 2020). Additionally, the value of human dignity has enabled nurses to maintain the patient’s privacy and confidentiality, which may be unfavorable to the patient when disclosed. As a result, there is improved trust between the patients and the nurses. Professional values have enabled nurses to respect patients’ preferences and give them the freedom to decide the best medical practice that suits their needs (Rejnö et al., 2020). Besides, nurses have been educating the patients on the various medical interventions that can be employed to improve their condition. As a result, patients decide their mode of treatment and seek appropriate advice on the best practices, thus improving the quality of service delivery.
Conclusion
In conclusion, personal and professional values are essential elements for the growth of a profession. These values create the foundation that defines the conduct of the professionals while discharging their duties. Additionally, professional and personal values guide professionals on how to relate with their clients and colleagues. Professional values ensure that professional conduct aims to promote society’s general well-being. Personal values create self-awareness among professionals and promote intrinsic motivation for career growth.
References
Corey, G., Corey, M., & Corey, C. (2017). Issues and Ethics in the Helping Professions (10th ed., pp. 38-60). Cenveo® Publisher Service.
Ismail, H. N., Karkoulian, S., & Kertechian, S. K. (2019). Which personal values matter most? Job performance and job satisfaction across job categories. International Journal of Organizational Analysis. Web.
Poorchangizi, B., Borhani, F., Abbaszadeh, A., Mirzaee, M., & Farokhzadian, J. (2019). The importance of professional values from nursing students’ perspective. BMC nursing, 18(1), 1-7. Web.
Rejnö, Å., Ternestedt, B. M., Nordenfelt, L., Silfverberg, G., & Godskesen, T. E. (2020). Dignity at stake: Caring for persons with impaired autonomy. Nursing ethics, 27(1), 104-115. Web.
Scott, T. (2022). Ethical Standards for HS Professionals. Web.
