Ethical Issues Related to the Use of Technology in Social Work Practice. A Systematic Review

Abstract

A systematic review of the literature (up to September 2023) has been conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines and following the checklist for reporting systematic reviews of PRISMA 2020. The research objective is related to the ethical issues of the Social Work profession associated with the use of digital technologies in professional practice. Increasing ethical challenges arising from the integration of digital technologies in Social Work practice underscore the necessity of this study. Thematic Synthesis Analysis was used to analyze the studies ( n = 15), extracted from five databases: Scopus, Web of Science, ProQuest, EBSCOhost, and Dialnet Plus. The analysis of documents was carried out with the support of the CADIMA web tool. The results have been grouped into three categories: the effects of digitization on professional practice; education, research and engagement; and ethical challenges in digital professional practice. This article evidences the need to adopt ethical principles and regulatory standards that support the application framework of the profession, and within this framework the right to the protection of digital personal data and the regulation in which they converge.