It is impossible to follow the principle of professional honesty and be a person who is capable of lying and deceit. The opposite concept of falsehood is honesty, which is one of the most important moral values. The concept of "honesty" has several meanings that characterize morally approved behavior. All the meanings of this concept have a concrete expression in the professional honesty of a social worker.
Professional honesty of a social worker means, first of all, that this person is not lying. One of the forms of deceitful behavior in social work may be the failure to fulfill promises made to a client, colleagues, as well as the failure to fulfill professional obligations. The honesty of a social worker is that the social worker does not resort to deceptive speech. His word is true, that is, it corresponds to reality. It is dishonest for a social worker to make deliberately false promises that can never be fulfilled.
The honesty of a social worker is also manifested in the fact that in his activities he will not resort to various kinds of violations, fraud, skillfully masking them. An honest person who has made any mistake will not resort to excuses, all sorts of tricks to absolve himself of responsibility.
Professional honesty is not compatible with slander against either the client or the social worker, etc. Slander directed at the client is most often an attempt to justify their lack of professionalism. Slander against his colleagues is aimed at advancing in the service at any cost, or is the result of envy. Slander is an immoral phenomenon that has nothing to do with the ethics of a social worker.
Social work is impossible without a sympathetic attitude to their clients. If a social worker cannot express sympathy, compassion for a client, but in an effort to earn trust, he can "put on" a mask of compassion, but in fact experience other feelings. The insincerity underlying this behavior is nothing but hypocrisy, that is, one of the forms of deceitful behavior.
One of the problems of ethics of social work is the permissibility of deception "for salvation". I. Kant believed that any deception cannot be considered permissible from the point of view of morality. However, in the practical activity of a social worker, there are many situations when deception (omission, etc.) is accepted by a social worker as the only correct decision. How to evaluate this, from the point of view of morality? Omission, for example, regarding the fate of an old person can be permissible only if the person himself prefers not to know the truth.
The honesty of a social worker can also be interpreted as fair behavior, free from any bias. A social worker, solving problems with his clients, does not allow injustice.
The honesty of a social worker presupposes an adequate self-assessment that does not exaggerate its professional merits. It is a source of further professional growth and self-improvement.