Strategies for Ethical Decision-Making when Working with Geriatric Clients and their Caregivers the Topic of CPE Summer Seminar

Friday, July 17, 2009 8:45 a.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Register [PDF]

Professionals who work with older adults and their caregivers often face difficult ethical dilemmas. This seminar presents an ethical decision making framework for use in professional practice with older adults and their caregivers. Case vignettes that highlight aging issues such as chronic illness, institutionalization, home-based care and end of life treatment will be examined using this ethical decision making framework. Finally, key ethical principles (e.g., autonomy, protection of life, doing the least harm and equality) will also be addressed for their application to professional practice.

OBJECTIVES

• Examine an ethical decision making framework for use in professional practice with older adults and their caregivers;
• Assess key ethical principles such as autonomy and protection of life, as they affect older adults and caregivers; and
• Apply an ethical decision making framework to case vignettes that address aging issues such as chronic illness, institutionalization and home-based care, and end of life treatment.

In addition to the lecture, seminar attendees will be engaged to participate through a variety of opportunities including case presentation and small group discussions to allow a deeper look into the special dynamics of working with this population. These groups will be facilitated by renowned national and local scholars and practitioners to advance our knowledge and practice base concerning older adults.

Terry Koenig, PhD is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. Her areas of research and scholarship examine ethical decision- making from the older adult and caregivers’ viewpoint and in relationship to social work practice (e.g., professional self-reflection, tensions between personal values and professional ethics, and woman-centered ethics). Currently, Dr. Koenig teaches conceptual thinking and human behavior theories across all levels of the curriculum.

Registration: $135, CEUs: 6

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