The purpose of this study is to identify the types of ethical dilemmas that Spanish social workers face in their respective areas of intervention. The intervention areas that have been studied are health, children, immigrants, women, family, marginalized persons, ethnic minorities, young people, prisoners, elderly people, refugees and asylum seekers, schools and social and employment-related integration, mental health, disability and drug addictions. A quantitative methodology was chosen using a version of the questionnaire prepared by Eileen J. Ain in a sample of 700 Spanish social workers. The statistical analysis shows the correlation between the different areas of intervention in Social Work and the most significant ethical dilemmas that such professionals have to solve. The most pertinent ethical dilemmas are found in the healthcare sector (confidentiality, disclosure of personal information and patient autonomy). The article is an important contribution for Social Work at the national level that emphasizes the importance of the ethics of Social Work in social interventions. It is proposed to deepen the investigation of each of the areas of intervention for future research, as well as to carry out comparative studies between different countries.

Professional practice is fundamental because it represents the link between theoretical training and the application of skills and knowledge in the professional field. In March 2020, howe- ver, COVID-19 obliged teaching staff to redesign their professional practicums to ensure that they satisfied the requirements established for their training activities. In this context, digital portfolios were seen as a fundamental tool. The main aim of this article is to analyse the usefulness of the digital portfolio as a learning tool for the supervision of students taking part in practicums as part of their Master’s in Social Intervention at the Public University of Navarre. Our research methodo- logy involves a qualitative case study in which we analysed digital portfolios prepared by students during the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 academic years. We show that, as a supervision tool, these port- folios have more strengths than weaknesses. Moreover, our conclusions provide numerous useful suggestions for improving the future use of these portfolios.

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In this article we address the ethical decision-making processes of social work professionals in Spain during the first wave of COVID-19. We present some of the findings from a broader international research project led by professor Sarah Banks and carried out in collaboration with the International Federation of Social Workers. The first wave of COVID-19 had a major impact in Spain, hitting harder the most vulnerable groups. In this unprecedented and unexpected context, social workers had to make difficult ethical decisions on fundamental issues such as respecting service-user’s autonomy, prioritizing wellbeing, maintaining confidentiality or deciding the fair distribution of the scarce resources. There were moments of uncertainty and difficult institutional responses. The broader international project was carried out using an online questionnaire addressed to social work professionals in several countries. In this article, through several specific cases, we examine the ethical decision-making processes of social work professionals in Spain, as well as the way to resolve that situations. We have used a qualitative content analysis with a deductive approach to analyze the responses and cases. Findings show many difficult situations concerning the prioritization of the wellbeing of users without limiting their autonomy, the invention of new organizational protocols to provide support and resources for vulnerable people… Social workers had to manage the bureaucracy and had to solve some emergency situations getting personally involved or developing other cooperation mechanisms. The pandemic forced them to look for new forms of social intervention.

Social workers face many ethical dilemmas on a daily basis, but do not always have the tools to resolve them. We analyze some of the main ethical decisionmaking methodologies used in social work. They are divided into two groups: those that propose a hierarchy between ethical principles, and those do not propose any specific hierarchy between them. We conclude with a succinct assessment of these methodologies and highlights some of their main features, with the aim of providing social workers with a set of tools for ethical decision making.

This article presents the main ethical challenges faced by social work professionals in Spain during the "first wave" of COVID-19 in 2020. The pandemic had a serious impact not only on the health sector, but also in the field of social work. During this time, social workers had to address serious ethical questions regarding issues such as confidentiality breaches, how to fairly distribute available resources, the lack of personal contact and emotional connection with the service users, the difficulties of working in isolation and online, doubts about the reliability of the information they were handling and the difficulty of making proper diagnoses. An international research group led by Dr. Sara Banks conducted a broader research project in collaboration with the International Federation of Social Workers, which collected information through an online questionnaire aimed at social workers from various countries. In this article we analyse the results related to the main ethical challenges faced by social workers in Spain. The research group identified two types of ethical challenges that they have separated into two sections: the first section is related to direct intervention with users, which includes topics such as the lack of emotional support, reliability, use of technology, the appropriate care, compliance with the highest professional standards, confidentiality, vulnerability, and the fair distribu-tion of resources. The other section is related to the ethical challenges around the daily work within social entities, which involved dealing with issues such as the e-social work and coordination difficulties, the management of pressure in social bodies and changes in the intervention methodology. Keywords: Social work ethics, pandemic, international research, COVID

The purpose of the article is to identify the types of ethical dilemmas that Spanish social workers face in the healthcare arena (health centres, hospitals and mental health). A quantitative methodology was chosen using the questionnaire prepared by Eileen J. Ain. The questionnaire has been translated and adapted for Social Work in Spain. The statistical analysis shows the correlation between the different areas of intervention in Social Work and the most significant ethical dilemmas that such professionals have to solve (autonomy, confidentiality and informed consent). This article is an essential study on Social Work at the national level that emphasizes the importance of the ethics of Social Work in the Healthcare area.