2nd Ethics Day

The Ethics and Social Work Section of the German Society for Social Work (Opens in a new tab) (DGSA) cordially invites you to this year's Day of Ethics in Social Work Practice, which is dedicated to different manifestations of ethical problems and thus aims to contribute to raising awareness.

The conference theme "Ethical Problems" is intended to explicitly focus on the ethical perspective in contrast to the scientific and legal reflection of social professional action. Starting from this point of view, different ethical problems can be explored and consciously perceived in addition to our intuition. To date, this process has mostly taken place specifically within the framework of various models of ethical case consultation.

Academic discourse is increasingly discussing in detail the types of ethical problems that professionals may be confronted with in social work practice. In addition to "moral dilemmas" (cf. principle-oriented models of ethical case consultation) or "mandate conflicts" (cf. double/triple mandate in social work discourses), "application conflicts of professional moral demands" (e.g. respecting autonomy in people in psychotic crises) or forms of "threats to moral integrity" (cf. discourses in the context of moral distress) are also being addressed. In three impulse contributions based on morally challenging case constellations from the practical field of health-related social work and child and youth welfare, followed by a discussion, we therefore want to explore together which manifestations of ethical problems we are confronted with in professional practice and how we can best understand them using which terms. In this way, we will gain a (possibly new) insight into the broad spectrum of ethical conflicts in various fields of social work in social and health care. Analogous to a professional case understanding in the sense of a corresponding diagnosis, the adoption of an ethical perspective may reveal further components for the conception of a map of ethical problems.

Speakers

• Prof. Dr. Stefanie Rosenmüller(Opens in a new tab) , Fachhochschule Dortmund
• Benjamin Hantke(Opens in a new tab) , MA Social Sustainability and Demographic Change, Fachhochschule Dortmund
• Prof. Dr. Verena Begemann(Opens in a new tab) , Hanover University of Applied Sciences and Arts
• Mareike Fuchs(Opens in a new tab) , qualified social education worker, Palliative Care (M.Sc.), Deputy Head of Malteser Hospiz-Zentrum Bruder Gerhard, Hamburg
• Prof. Dr. Peter A. Schmid(Opens in a new tab) , Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts/Switzerland

Selected case vignettes from the respective fields of practice can be found here(Opens in a new tab) .

Case-related insights into the broad field of possible ethical problems in the health professions and in health-related social work can be found here(Opens in a new tab) .

The target group includes professionals in social work practice, lecturers at universities, students on Bachelor's and Master's degree courses in social work and professionals working in multi-professional teams in social work practice, especially in the health professions, as well as anyone interested in the topic.

The symposium is recognized by the Medical Association. Prof. Dr. med. habil. Britta Galling(Opens in a new tab)  (HAW Hamburg) and Alexander Harbst M.A. Social Work (DVSG, Hamburg).

• By 27.02.2026 at the latest by e-mail to Marie Meinhard. 
• Participants can receive a confirmation of participation. Please indicate when registering whether you require one.
• Accreditation will be applied for from the Hamburg Medical Association for this event. Therefore, please be sure to indicate when registering whether you wish to make use of this.