Artificial Intelligence in Social Work: Emerging Ethical Issues

This course meets the new NYSED Ethics Requirement:

A licensed psychologist, social worker or mental health practitioner required to complete continuing education must complete 3 hours of acceptable course work in appropriate professional boundaries, in each 3-year registration period starting April 1, 2023.

Course Description

AI is being used to conduct client risk assessments; assist people in crisis; strengthen prevention efforts; identify systemic biases in the delivery of social services; document clinical services; provide social work training and education; and predict social worker burnout and service outcomes, among other uses.

This webinar will examine cutting-edge ethical issues related to social workers’ use of AI; apply relevant ethical standards; and outline key elements of a strategy for social workers’ ethical use of AI. Join Dr. Frederic Reamer as he examines ethical issues and risks related to informed consent and client autonomy; privacy and confidentiality; transparency; potential client misdiagnosis; client abandonment; client surveillance; plagiarism, dishonesty, fraud, and misrepresentation; algorithmic bias and unfairness; and use of evidence-based AI tools. He will focus especially on novel boundary issues associated with the use of AI.

CEs: 3

Learning Objectives

• Identify the ways in which artificial intelligence is being used in social work
• Identify ethical issues and challenges associated with the use of artificial intelligence in social work
• Apply social work ethics standards related to client-professional boundaries, informed consent, privacy and confidentiality, client abandonment, practitioner dishonesty, and discrimination
• Develop ethics-informed policies and protocols to protect clients and social workers

Tuition Rates

• $80 – Regular
• $60 – Alumni, FI, Adjunct
• $45 – VET
• Current Adelphi Unversity School of Social Work Students: Free with Promo Code

Faculty Bio

Frederic G. Reamer

Frederic G. Reamer has been on the faculty of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College since 1983. His research and teaching have addressed a wide range of human service issues, including mental health, health care, criminal justice, public welfare, and professional ethics. Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. (social work) from the University of Chicago. He has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He has also taught at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration, and the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Social Work.

Dr. Reamer has served as Director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1979-1981); as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island (1987-1990); and as a Commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, the state housing finance agency (1987-1995). Dr. Reamer served on the State of Rhode Island Parole Board from 1992 to 2016. He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education (1990-1994). He serves as Associate Editor of the National Association of Social Workers Encyclopedia of Social Work (Oxford University Press and National Association of Social Workers). Since 2012, Dr. Reamer has served as the ethics instructor in the Providence (RI) Police Department Training Academy.

Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics. He has been involved in national research projects sponsored by The Hastings Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the Haas Foundation, and the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania. He has published 25 books and more than 185 journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles.

His books include:

• Risk Management in the Behavioral Health Professions: A Practical Guide to Preventing Malpractice and Licensing-Board Complaints (Columbia University Press)
• Moral Distress and Injury in Human Services: Cases, Causes, and Strategies for Prevention (NASW Press)
• On the Parole Board: Reflections on Crime, Punishment, Redemption, and Justice (Columbia University Press)
• The Philosophical Foundations of Social Work (Columbia University Press)
• Ethics and Risk Management in Online and Distance Behavioral Health (Cognella Academic Publishing)
• Ethics and Risk Management in Online and Distance Social Work (Cognella Academic Publishing)
• Risk Management in Social Work: Preventing Professional Malpractice, Liability, and Disciplinary Action (Columbia University Press)
• Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services (Columbia University Press)
• Heinous Crime: Cases, Causes, and Consequences (Columbia University Press)
• The Social Work Ethics Casebook: Cases and Commentary (NASW Press)
• A Guide to Essential Human Services (NASW Press)
• Criminal Lessons: Case Studies and Commentary on Crime and Justice (Columbia University Press)
• Social Work Values and Ethics (Columbia University Press)
• Tangled Relationships: Managing Boundary Issues in the Human Services (Columbia University Press)
• Ethical Standards in Social Work: A Review of the NASW Code of Ethics (NASW Press)
• The Social Work Ethics Audit: A Risk Management Tool (NASW Press)
• Ethics Education in Social Work (Council on Social Work Education)
• The Foundations of Social Work Knowledge (Columbia University Press; editor and contributor)
• Social Work Malpractice and Liability (Columbia University Press)
• Social Work Research and Evaluation Skills (Columbia University Press)
• AIDS and Ethics (Columbia University Press; editor and contributor)
• Ethical Dilemmas in Social Service (Columbia University Press)
• Rehabilitating Juvenile Justice (Columbia University Press; co-author, Charles H. Shireman)
• The Teaching of Social Work Ethics (The Hastings Center; co-author, Marcia Abramson).
• Finding Help for Struggling Teens: A Guide for Parents and the Professionals Who Work with Them (NASW Press; co-author, Deborah H. Siegel)
• Teens in Crisis: How the Industry Serving Struggling Teens Helps and Hurts Our Kids (Columbia University Press; co-author, Deborah H. Siegel)

Dr. Reamer is also the author of chapters on professional ethics in the Encyclopedia of Social Work, Encyclopedia of Bioethics, Encyclopedia of Global Ethics, Encyclopedia of Applied Ethics, Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development, Encyclopedia of Higher Education, and Encyclopedia of Primary Prevention and Health Promotion. He has been an essayist on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition (“This I Believe” series), a commentator on National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and a guest on various radio and television broadcasts. From 2007 to 2021 Dr. Reamer served as host and producer of the National Public Radio series This I Believe—New England, broadcast weekly. He is featured in the podcast series Trapped in Treatment produced by Paris Hilton, Warner Brothers, and iHeart Media; Yahoo News national series Unfiltered; and as a commentator in the video documentaries America’s Serial Killers: Portraits in Evil and Rampage: Killing without Reason. He is also a featured expert on the PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) series This Emotional Life.

Dr. Reamer has lectured extensively nationally and internationally (including India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Sweden, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Djibouti, Bahrain, Indonesia, Diego Garcia, Spain, Romania, Poland, Greece, and Canada) on the subjects of professional ethics and professional malpractice and liability. He has served as an adjunct professor and visiting scholar at the University of Pennsylvania, Tulane University, Simmons University, Smith College, University of Oklahoma, and Augsburg University. Dr. Reamer chaired the national task force that wrote the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and served on the code revision task force. He chaired the international commission sponsored by the Association of Social Work Boards to develop Model Regulatory Standards for Technology and Social Work Practice. Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored jointly by the National Association of Social Workers, Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association to develop Technology Standards in Social Work Practice. He has served as an expert witness and consultant in 142 court and licensing board cases addressing professional ethics.

Dr. Reamer has received the following national and international awards:

• “Distinguished Contributions to Social Work Education,” Council on Social Work Education (1995)
• Presidential Award, National Association of Social Workers (1997)
• Richard Lodge Prize, Adelphi University (2005)
• Edith Abbott Award, University of Chicago (2005)
• International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award, National Association of Social Workers (2012)
• Excellence in Ethics Award, National Association of Social Workers (2015)
• NASW Social Work Pioneer Award (2016)
• Inaugural Contributor Award, Association of Social Work Boards (2019)
• NASW Mit Joyner Presidential Award (2023)

Adelphi University School of Social Work is an approved provider for continuing education credits for the following:

• NYSED Social Workers
• NYSED LMHC
• NYSED LMFT
• CASAC Renewal
• APA Psychology, pending NYSED Psychology
• NYSED LCAT

ACE Approved Provider of Continuing Education Contact Hours:

Adelphi University School of Social Work: Continuing Education and Professional Development, #1786, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Adelphi University School of Social Work: Continuing Education and Professional Development maintain responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 03/03/2022 – 03/03/2026. ACE is not an approved Continuing Education Provider in the states of New York and West Virginia unless the event is outside of West VA. Adelphi University School of Social Work is an approved NYSED CE provider in New York State.

55 states/jurisdictions accept ACE-approved provider CE contact hours. Successful completion for the award of approved continuing education credits requires attendance at the entire training/workshop and submission of a completed evaluation form.

See full credentialing information and CEUs

Cancellation Policy

Unfortunately, we cannot provide refunds for cancellations made seven working days or fewer before the event for any reason—or for no-shows. We can provide credit towards a future workshop up to 24 hours before the event. After that, no credit will be issued.

Accessibility Statement

The Student Access Office ensures equal access to all of Adelphi University’s programs, services and facilities for students with documented needs. Through assistance, advocacy and reasonable accommodations, the office provides an accessible and supportive campus environment.

The Student Access Office provides cost-free assistance and services that are tailored to meet the needs of individuals based on their specific, appropriately documented needs, while preserving Adelphi’s academic integrity and high standards of academic expectations and performance.

If you are a student with a documented disability and wish to request accommodation services, please submit a Petition for Reasonable Accommodations form along with the required information as detailed in the Guidelines for Documentation.

Please be aware that all decisions regarding accommodations and equal access are made in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and prevailing University Policy.

For further information, please contact the Student Access Office at 516.877.3806 or sao@adelphi.edu.