The purpose of this study is to investigate ethical dilemmas and ethical difficulties experienced by psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. The study is a replication of previous studies conducted by Colnerud (1997) and Slack and Wassenaar (1999). A sample of 295 psychologists in Sweden and 312 psychologists in South Africa were asked to describe situations that they identified as ethically difficult. 53 psychologists in Sweden described 61 incidents and 21 psychologists in South Africa described 24 situations. This corresponds to a response rate of 20% in Sweden and 8% in South Africa. The reported dilemmas were categorized according to a qualitative content analysis developed by Pope and Vetter (1992). The contribution of this study is that the results confirm that confidentiality is a prominent ethical dilemma for psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. This finding is consistent with findings in comprehensive international research. Furthermore, the results indicate that psychologists, especially in Sweden, experience ethical problems due to weakened legitimacy when conducting assessments. The results are discussed taking into consideration the different contexts in which psychologists work, the application of different ethics codes and different levels of ethical awareness. The weaknesses of the study and the method used are also discussed.

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate ethical dilemmas and ethical difficulties experienced by psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. The study is a replication of previous studies conducted by Colnerud (1997) and Slack and Wassenaar (1999). A sample of 295 psychologists in Sweden and 312 psychologists in South Africa were asked to describe situations that they identified as ethically difficult. 53 psychologists in Sweden described 61 incidents and 21 psychologists in South Africa described 24 situations. This corresponds to a response rate of 20% in Sweden and 8% in South Africa. The reported dilemmas were categorized according to a qualitative content analysis developed by Pope and Vetter (1992). The contribution of this study is that the results confirm that confidentiality is a prominent ethical dilemma for psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. This finding is consistent with findings in comprehensive international research. Furthermore, the results indicate that psychologists, especially in Sweden, experience ethical problems due to weakened legitimacy when conducting assessments. The results are discussed taking into consideration the different contexts in which psychologists work, the application of different ethics codes and different levels of ethical awareness. The weaknesses of the study and the method used are also discussed.</p>

Bakgrund: Sjuksköterskorna har en central roll i samarbetet kring vårdandet i livets slutskede. Det etiska har stor betydelse i detta sammanhang. Maktlöshet, osäkerhet och otydlighet skapade etiska konflikter i vården generellt i samband med kommunikation, relationer och samarbete. Här beskrivs vad vård i livets slutskede innefattar, sjuksköterskans roll, etik i vårdandet och vad etiska svårigheter är. Syfte: Denna översikts syfte var att beskriva sjuksköterskors upplevelser av etiskt svåra situationer inom vård i livets slutskede. Metod: Studien är en allmän litteraturöversikt som syftar till att skapa en översikt över det nuvarande kunskapsläget inom ämnet. Översikten bygger på elva artiklar, som har granskats och analyserats kritiskt. Som teoretisk utgångspunkt valdes Travelbees (1971) "human – to – human relationships" teori. Resultat: Resultatet presenteras i olika teman som handlar om vård i livets slutskede och i vilka situationer de etiska svårigheterna uppstår. Etiska svårigheter uppkom i samarbetet och i samarbetsrelationer. Sjuksköterskorna upplevde maktlöshet, osäkerhet, otydlighet och brister i vården vilket skapade etiska konflikter i den palliativa vården. Dessa upplevelser uppkom i samband med otillräcklig eller ingen kommunikation, samt otrygga relationer mellan alla parter och maktlöshet i alla möten. Diskussion: Diskussionen utgår från Travelbees (1971) mellanmänskliga relationsteori. Öppenhet i kommunikationen och goda samt djupa relationer diskuteras. Vilket har betydelse för ett meningsfullt samarbete för att minska de etiskt svåra situationerna i vårdandet, samt att hjälpa till att bevara patienternas autonomi. Även tillräckliga resurser och kunskaper som är betydelsefulla för förtroendefullt samarbete diskuteras. / Background: The nurses have a central role in cooperation in end of life care. The ethics are of great importance in this context. Powerlessness, insecurity and ambiguity created ethical conflicts in health care generally related to communication, relationships and cooperation. Described here are what life care includes, the nurse's role, ethics in the care and what ethical difficulties are. Aim: The purpose of this overview was to describe nurses' experiences of ethically difficult situations in end of life care. Methods: This study is a general literature review that aims to create an overview of the current state of knowledge in the subject. The review is based on eleven articles, which were reviewed and analyzed critically. As a theoretical basis Travelbees (1971) "human - to - human relationships" theory was selected. Results: The results are presented in different themes which deals with end of life care and in which situations the ethical difficulties arises. Ethical difficulties appeared in cooperation and cooperative relationships. The nurses experienced powerlessness, uncertainty, lack of clarity and lack in the care, which created ethical conflicts in the palliative care. These experiences appeared in connection with inadequate or no communication, and precarious relationships between all parties and powerlessness in all meetings. Discussions: The discussion is based on Travelbees (1971) interpersonal relations theory. Openness in communication and good and deep relationship are discussed. This is significant for meaningful cooperation to reduce the ethically difficult situations in caring, and to help maintain patient autonomy. Also sufficient resources and skills that are important for the trustful cooperation are discussed.

Syftet med studien har varit att beskriva och förstå socialsekreterares erfarenheter av etiska dilemman som de upplevde i arbetet med ensamkommande barn och unga under 2015/2016 samt hur socialsekreterare hanterade dessa. Studien har haft en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Sammanlagt har sju socialsekreterare från Västmanlands län som arbetade med ensamkommande barn och unga under 2015/2016 deltagit i studien. Studiens resultat har analyserats och tolkats utifrån teorin om coping, normativ etik och även tidigare forskning på området. Studiens resultat visar att socialsekreterare inom socialtjänsten ställdes inför en mängd svårigheter men som inte var renodlade etiska dilemman, utan hade karaktärer i form av etiska svårigheter och problem. Dessa etiska svårigheter har uppstått på flera arenor, i samverkan med Migrationsverket, ur en politiskt styrd organisation med riktlinjer och ekonomiska restriktioner samt i mötet med barn och ungdomar. Resultatet visar även att socialsekreterarna påverkats och berörts både privat som professionellt. Fem av sju socialsekreterare har varit sjukskrivna under perioden och flera har haft svårt att hantera etiska svårigheter. Socialsekreterarna har hanterat dessa etiska svårigheter genom att använda olika copingstrategier. / The purpose of this study has been to describe and understand social workers’ experiences of dealing with ethical dilemmas that arose in the work with unaccompanied children and young people during 2015/2016, and how social workers’ handled these dilemmas. The study has had a qualitative research method with semi-structured interviews. In total, seven social workers from the county of Västmanland, Sweden, who worked with unaccompanied children and young people during 2015/2016, participated in the study. The results of the study have been analysed and interpreted based on the theory of coping, normative ethics and also previous research in the field. The results of the study show that social workers faced a lot of difficulties, but were not purely ethical dilemmas, but had characters in the form of ethical difficulties and problems. These ethical difficulties have arisen in several arenas, in collaboration with the Swedish Migration Board, from a politically-driven organization with guidelines and economic constraints as well as in the meeting with children and young people. The result also shows that the social wokers have been affected both privately and professionally. Five out of seven social workers have been sick-listed during the period, and several have had difficulty coping with ethical difficulties. The social workers have dealt with these ethical difficulties using different coping strategies.