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16 NASW Ethical Standards

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The 16 NASW Ethical Standards would have had a positive impacted on many aspects of the design and implementation of the Tuskegee Study. The well-being, privacy, and dignity of the research participants would have been taken into consideration prior to the design and implementation of the Tuskegee Study. The research participants would have been informed of the nature and extent of the research along with the possible risks and benefits of participating in the research study.
The NASW Ethical Guidelines for Research and Evaluation letter (e) states, “Social workers engaged in evaluation or research should obtain voluntary and written informed consent from participants, when appropriate, without any implied or actual deprivation or penalty …show more content…

The participants were misled to encourage participation by being told free medical treatment would be provided rather than being informed the purpose of the study was to document the symptoms and progression of syphilis in African American males. Not only did the researchers not inform the participants of the purpose of the study, the participants did not sign a voluntary and written consent form that included the possible risks and benefits of the …show more content…

Social workers are required to provide the necessary interventions and services to eliminate unwarranted distress on research participants.
The researchers were knowledgeable about the penicillin shot and its ability to cure the syphilis disease, yet did not administer it to the research participants. This allowed each participant to suffer unwarranted medical and mental distress. Beyond medical and mental distress the researchers allowed the research participants to suffer to the point of death. The researchers deprived the participants of the needed medical treatment that included a cure of syphilis in order to document scientific observations.
The NASW Ethical Guidelines for Research and Evaluation letter (j) would have changed the design of the study from documenting the scientific observation to the documenting the impact treatment on syphilis. The implementation of the study would have been changed from allowing each participant to experience unwarranted medical and mental health distress to administering penicillin to the research participants to stop the unwarranted medical and mental health issues that were endured by each

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