Social workers’ experiences with whistleblowing: To speak or not to speak?

Authors

  • Sally Raymond Northland District Health Board
  • Liz Beddoe University of Auckland
  • Barbara Staniforth University of Auckland

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol29iss3id305

Keywords:

whistleblowing, accountability, social work ethics, professional misconduct

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Reporting perceived inadequate and/or harmful practice has become known internationally as whistleblowing. Social workers have a responsibility to uphold ethical standards and may blow the whistle when faced with what they perceive as unethical conduct.

METHOD: A small-scale, qualitative study explored the experiences of 10 social workers in Aotearoa New Zealand who, having observed what they believed to be poor or unsafe practice, attempted to have their concerns addressed by reporting to a third party or blowing the whistle.

FINDINGS: The research reveals common experiences of limited support for, and retaliation from colleagues and organisations towards, those who spoke out. Participants experienced both personal and professional consequences.

CONCLUSIONS:  The research identifies the need for appropriate processes and support for whistleblowing social workers and their employing agencies. Social workers need to be better informed about their rights and responsibilities under the Protected Disclosures Act (2000).

Author Biography

Liz Beddoe, University of Auckland

Associate Professor

References

Ash, A. (2016). Whistle blowing and ethics in health and social care. London, UK: Jessica Kingsley.

Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of ethics (2nd Rev.), Christchurch, New Zealand: Author.

Banks, S. (2008). Critical commentary: Social work ethics. British Journal of Social Work, 38(6), 1238–1249. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcn099

Beddoe, L. (2011). External supervision in social work: Power, space, risk, and the search for safety. Australian Social Work, 65(2), 197–213. doi:10.1080/0312407x.2011.591187

Beddoe, L., Davys, A. M., & Adamson, C. (2014). Never trust anybody who says “I don’t need supervision”: Practitioners’ beliefs about social worker resilience. Practice, 26(2), 113–130. doi:10.1080/09503153.2014.896888

De Maria, W. (1996). The welfare whistleblower: In praise of troublesome people. Australian Social Work, 49(3), 15–24.

De Maria, W., & Jan, C. (1994). Wounded workers: Queensland whistleblower study. Brisbane, QLD.: University of Queensland, Department of Social Work and Social Policy.

Doel, M., Allmark, P., Conway, P., Cowburn, M., Flynn, M., Nelson, P., & Tod, A. (2010). Professional boundaries: Crossing a line or entering the shadows? British Journal of Social Work. 40(6), 1866–1889. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp106

Frank, A. (1995). The wounded storyteller: Body, illness and ethics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

Glazer, M. P., & Glazer P. M. (1989). The whistleblowers: Exposing corruption in government and industry. New York, NY: Basic Books.

Greene, A., & Latting, J. (2004). Whistle-blowing as a form of advocacy: Guidelines for the practitioner and organisation. Social Work, 49(2), 219–230.

Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2011). Applied thematic analysis. London, UK: Sage.

Hedin, U-C., & Månsson, S-A. (2012). Whistleblowing processes in Swedish public organisations—Complaints and consequences. European Journal of Social Work, 15(2), 151–167.

Hinchman, L. P., & Hinchman, S. K. (Eds.). (1997). Memory, identity, community: The idea of narrative in the human sciences. Albany, NY: State University of NY Press.

Hunt, G. (Ed.). (1998). Whistleblowing in the social services: Public accountability and professional practice. London, UK: Arnold.

Jackson D., Peters K., Andrews S., Edenborough, M., Halcomb E., Luck L., … Wilkes L. (2010). Understanding whistleblowing: Qualitative insights from nurse whistleblowers. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 66(10), 2194–2201.

Kline, R., & Preston-Shoot, M. (2012). Professional accountability in social care and health: Challenging unacceptable practice and its management. London, UK: Sage.

Lennane, K. J. (1993). "Whistleblowing": A health issue. British Medical Journal, 307(6905), 667-670. doi:10.1136/bmj.307.6905.667

Lennane, J. (2012). What happens to whistleblowers, and why. Classics in Social Medicine, 6, 249–257

Mansbach, A., & Bachner, Y. (2009) Self-reported likelihood of whistle blowing by social work students. Social Work Education, 28(1), 18–28.

Martin, S. (2016). Being Pono: Ethical dilemmas as learning tools for student social workers. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 28(1), 68-70. doi:10.11157/anzswj-vol28iss1id121

McAuliffe, D., & Sudbery, J. (2005). Who do I tell?: Support and consultation in cases of ethical conflict. Journal of Social Work, 5(1), 21–43) doi:10.1177/1468017305051362

McDonald, S., & Ahern, K. (2002). Physical and emotional effects of whistleblowing. Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 40(1), 14–27.

Moore, M., & McAuliffe, E. (2010). Is inadequate response to whistleblowing perpetuating a culture of silence in hospitals? Clinical Governance, 15(3), 166–178.

Office of the Ombudsman. (n.d.). Protected disclosures/whistle-blowing. Retrieved from http://www.ombudsman.parliament.nz/what-we-do/protecting-your-rights/protected-disclosures-whistle-blowing

Preston-Shoot, M. (2010). On administrative evil-doing within social work policy and services: Law, ethics and practice. European Journal of Social Work, 14(2), 177–194.

Protected Disclosures Act. (2000). Wellington, NZ: New Zealand Government. Retrieved from http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2000/0007/latest/DLM53466.html

Ryan, G. W., & Bernard, H. R. (2003). Techniques to identify themes. Field Methods, 15(1), 85–109. doi:10.1177/1525822x02239569

Saunders, B., Kitzinger, J., & Kitzinger, C. (2015). Anonymising interview data: Challenges and compromise in practice. Qualitative Research, 15(5), 616–632. doi:10.1177/1468794114550439

Social Workers Registration Board. (2016). Code of conduct for social workers, 1. 3-10. Wellington, NZ: Author.

Tolich, M. (2004). Internal confidentiality: When confidentiality assurances fail relational informants. Qualitative Sociology, 27(1), 101–106.

Whistleblowers Australia Inc. Retrieved from http://www.whistleblowers.org.au/

Worsley, A., Leigh, J., & McLaughlin, K. (2017). A subject of concern: The experiences of social workers referred to the Health and Care Professions Council. British Journal of Social Work. doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcx005

Downloads

Published

2017-09-25

How to Cite

Raymond, S., Beddoe, L., & Staniforth, B. (2017). Social workers’ experiences with whistleblowing: To speak or not to speak?. Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work, 29(3), 17–29. https://doi.org/10.11157/anzswj-vol29iss3id305

Issue

Vol. 29 No. 3 (2017)

Section

Original Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

By completing the online submission process, you confirm you accept this agreement. The following is the entire agreement between you and the Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) and it may be modified only in writing.

You and any co-authors

If you are completing this agreement on behalf of co-authors, you confirm that you are acting on their behalf with their knowledge.

First publication

By submitting the work you are:

  1. granting the ANZASW the right of first publication of this work;
  2. confirming that the work is original; and
  3. confirming that the work has not been published in any other form.

Once published, you are free to use the final, accepted version in any way, as outlined below under Copyright.

Copyright

You assign copyright in the final, accepted version of your article to the ANZASW. You and any co-authors of the article retain the right to be identified as authors of the work.

The ANZASW will publish the final, accepted manuscript under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This licence allows anyone – including you – to share, copy, distribute, transmit, adapt and make commercial use of the work without needing additional permission, provided appropriate attribution is made to the original author or source.

A human-readable summary of the licence is available from http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, which includes a link to the full licence text.

Under this licence you can use the final, published version of the article freely – such as depositing a copy in your institutional research repository, uploading a copy to your profile on an academic networking site or including it in a different publication, such as a collection of articles on a topic or in conference proceedings – provided that original publication in Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work is acknowledged.

This agreement has no effect on any pre-publication versions or elements, which remain entirely yours, and to which we claim no right.

Reviewers hold copyright in their own comments and should not be further copied in any way without their permission.

The copyright of others

If your article includes the copyright material of others (e.g. graphs, diagrams etc.), you confirm that your use either:

  1. falls within the limits of fair dealing for the purposes of criticism and review or fair use; OR
  2. that you have gained permission from the rights holder for publication in an open access journal.