Value 6: Maintaining Privacy and Confidentiality

Context for Practice: Social workers demonstrate respect for the trust and confidence placed in them by service users, members of the public, and other professionals by considering their values and beliefs related to privacy and confidentiality, and by respecting their right to control whether or when their information will be shared with third parties. Social workers protect confidentiality across all manner of service provision and communication in all settings and social media environments.

Standards of Practice: Social workers ensure respect for the trust and confidence placed in the confidential relationship by:

6.1.1 recognizing the diversity that exists in Nova Scotian communities (including but not limited to Mi’kmaq and Indigenous Peoples, African Nova Scotians and Persons of African descent, Acadian, Francophone, and 2SLGBTQIA+ Nova Scotians) and considering the values, customs, and beliefs of service users and how they wish confidentiality to apply within their cultural context;

6.1.2 informing young service users (e.g., children and youth) and their parents or legal guardians of young people’s rights and social work practises related to privacy and confidentiality with children and youth, as may be determined by policy and legislation;

6.1.3 treating information gained in the professional relationship as confidential, limiting its use to only professional purposes;

6.1.4 providing service users accurate information regarding who will have access to their records, their right to seek avenues of complaint as provided by law and policy, and the limitations to professional confidentiality (see Guiding Principle 6.3 regarding limits);

6.1.5 obtaining and documenting informed consent before audio or video-recording service users or permitting observation of services by a third party, either in person or virtually;

6.1.6 avoiding referring to service users in public or semi-public areas (e.g., hallways, waiting rooms, elevators, restaurants etc.), including on social media platforms;

6.1.7 addressing a breach of confidentiality should it occur and notifying service users of the breach of confidential information as soon as possible, with due regard to the values and principles of the NSCSW Code of Ethics, the standards of their employer and relevant regulatory requirements.

Context for Practice: Social workers have a duty to uphold people’s right to privacy and to the confidentiality of information shared and documented in official written or electronic records. Social workers maintain professional documentation in accordance with the values and principles of the Code, and standards of the NSCSW.

Standards of Practice: Social workers must uphold people’s right to privacy and confidentiality of information shared and documented by:

6.2.1 considering the service user to be the primary source of information about their personal issues;

6.2.2 keeping a record that relates to the appropriate constellation (collection) of service users when a couple, family, group, organization, or community is the service user;

6.2.3 keeping timely, consistent, and accurate documentation of professional interventions and information (including progress notes, reports and summaries of services as appropriate) with an appreciation that service users or others may view the record, in accordance with all applicable local, provincial, and federal statutory, regulatory, or policy requirements;

6.2.4 ensuring that all recorded information is either relevant to the solution of the service user’s problems or is needed for agency administration, policy or legislation;

6.2.5 limiting documentation to pertinent information that meets employer policies and the professional Standards of Practice requirements when sharing records across professions or agencies;

6.2.6 limiting a professional opinion unless it can be supported by their own assessment or by the documented assessment of another professional;

6.2.7 ensuring that service users have reasonable access to official social work records according to legislation, and advising service users of the right to access their official records according to the policies of the organization or regulations;

6.2.8 advising service users of the appeal process and of their right to a review if they are denied access to their official records;

6.2.9 protecting the anonymity of third parties when providing service users with access to their records which may involve masking (or redacting) third-party information;

6.2.10 advising service users of reporting or complaint resolution mechanisms through their organization and the NSCSW complaints process related to access to or correction of records;
6.2.11 ascertaining that service users’ written or electronic records are stored securely and taking reasonable measures to prevent unauthorized access;

6.2.12 transferring or disposing of service users’ written or electronic records in a manner that protects service users’ confidentiality in accordance with applicable legislation governing records and social work regulation;

6.2.13 employing reasonable precautions to protect confidential information in the event of the termination of practice, incapacity, or death;

6.2.14 complying with the requirements regarding record retention, storage, preservation and security set out in any applicable privacy and other legislation, and when employed by an organization (as applicable), acquiring and maintaining a thorough understanding of the organization’s policies with regard to the retention, storage, preservation and security of records;

6.2.15 ensuring that each service user record is stored and preserved in a secure location for at least seven years from the date of the last entry or, if the service user was less than eighteen years of age at the date of the last entry, at least seven years from the day the service user became or would have become eighteen. Different periods of storage time may be required by law. Longer periods of storage time may be defined by the policies of a member’s employing organization or by the policies of a self-employed member or a member who is responsible for complying with privacy legislation. Such policies should be developed with a view to the potential future need for the record.

In addition, social workers in supervisory, managerial, and administrative roles or who are self-employed:

6.2.16 shall be responsible for complying with privacy legislation and work to establish policies and practices that protect the confidentiality of service user information.

Context for Practice: Social workers shall discuss service users’ rights to confidentiality and the limits of those rights, as well as the nature of confidentiality, in all contexts, both at the earliest opportunity and throughout the professional relationship. Social workers advocate for policies that support transparency with services users about limits of rights to confidentiality.

Standards of Practice: Social workers shall inform service users of the limits to privacy and confidentiality related to:

6.3.1 the individual rights of children and adolescents, couples, families, or groups sharing information in service provision, which may or may not be respected or guaranteed by all, and the requirement of a commitment from each member to respect the confidential nature of the communication between and among members of the group;

6.3.2 agency or organizational practices or policies that involve routine consultation with supervisors or professional colleagues which may involve providing the name of the supervisor or colleague and the respective contact information;

6.3.3 practices or policies that involve supervisor or preceptor relationships with students in an educational or instructional context;

6.3.4 the measures to protect the anonymity of evaluation or research participant data, including when and how data will be disposed of or destroyed;

6.3.5 information shared through various sources of communication such as computers, electronic mail, facsimile machines, telephone answering machines and other electronic technology;

6.3.6 honouring confidentiality agreements in the delivery of electronic social work services;

6.3.7 the location where private and confidential data resides, including when data resides on servers or data centers outside of Canada.

Context for Practice: Social workers support service users’ right to self-determination by obtaining their informed consent or that of persons legally authorized to consent on their behalf for permission to disclose confidential information to concerned parties. Social workers must disclose information when required by law or court order or when necessary to prevent serious, imminent, or foreseeable harm to service users or other members of society. In all instances, social workers disclose the minimum required and pertinent information necessary to achieve the desired purpose.

Standards of Practice: Social workers uphold service users’ right to self-determination related to the disclosure of confidential information by:

6.4.1 informing service users or their legal representatives of the nature of the information and how it will be disclosed;

6.4.2 informing service users of the risks and benefits of disclosing their information at the earliest opportunity, except when this could bring about or exacerbate serious harm to service users or the public;

6.4.3 notifying service users or legal representatives about the conditions under which access to service users’ information will be provided or denied;

6.4.4 providing access to the record of a service user who is the subject of that record upon request, subject to policy and legislation as well as when access to their records may be officially authorized or required by law without their consent if this does not involve risks to others;

6.4.5 not releasing information to a third party, if in the social worker’s professional judgement, such a release could result in harm to the service user;

6.4.6 respecting the confidentiality rights of deceased service users by seeking informed consent of a deceased person’s legal representative to disclose information;

6.4.7 obtaining assent from young children before disclosing their information to parents or legal guardians unless judged not to be in their best interest and limiting disclosures to the minimum and pertinent information required;

6.4.8 addressing confidentiality breaches in accordance with the values and principles of the Code and the NSCSW, and where appropriate, developing and disclosing policies and procedures for notifying service users as soon as possible of any breach of confidential information;

6.4.9 maintaining identifying service user information confidential, in the context of teaching, training, public education or research, or supervisory purposes, or with consultants within the workplace or with community service providers (as appropriate), unless they obtain informed consent and there is a compelling need for disclosure of identifying information.

In addition, when disclosing confidential information related to service users, professional colleagues or others, social workers:

6.4.10 who determine that a person is at risk of harm, self-harm or has intent to harm others, shall disclose this information with relevant parties;

6.4.11 who determine that a child is harmed and may require protection, shall disclose that information to the proper authorities as required by law;

6.4.12 shall act based on the assessed level and/or imminent or foreseeable risk, prevailing professional standards and practices, or applicable legislation or court order;

6.4.13 shall limit disclosure of confidential information about a social worker or professional colleague to the minimum and relevant information required by law or disciplinary body.

Lastly, social workers employed by an organization:

6.4.14 shall acquire and maintain an understanding of policies regarding access requests by service users or any other parties, to confidential service user information.

Context for Practice: Social workers ensure privacy and confidentiality and communicate with service users regarding the expectations and implications of using technology, telecommunication, and telehealth or web-based platforms (herein, technology application) in service provision. When providing services via telephone or other electronic means, social workers shall act ethically, ensure personal and professional competence, protect service users, and uphold the values of the profession.

Standards of Practice: Social workers ensure privacy and confidentiality in the provision of electronic social work services by:

6.5.1 determining that service users: (1) have access to and can use the technology application; (2) understand the purpose and operation of the technology application; (3) have their needs met; and (4) have their identity protected;

6.5.2 using available safeguards (e.g., password protection, encryption, secure firewalls) when sharing confidential information using digital or other electronic technology or data storage devices (e.g., USB stick, flash drive) or when using digital communications (e.g., email communications, online posts, online chat sessions, mobile communication, etc.);

6.5.3 following applicable legislation governing the provision of electronic social work services in the province or territory where they are regulated, or practise, and where the service user resides;

6.5.4 being aware of inter-jurisdictional issues when providing therapy or social work services using electronic technologies (i.e., on-line counselling, on-line support groups, video conferencing etc.) and acting to preserve privacy and confidentiality;

6.5.5 obtaining informed consent when using electronic search engines to gather information about service users, including searching on social media platforms, except in exceptional circumstances to protect those at risk;

6.5.6 making reasonable efforts to verify service user’s identity and contact information, and representing themselves to the public with accuracy when using technological means of service provision;

6.5.7 being competent in the technologies used and following the standards that would be applied to a face-to-face supervisory relationship when using or providing supervision and consultation by technological means.

In addition, informing service users:

6.5.8 that they should be alone in a private area when receiving electronic social work services (e.g., virtual meeting), and that they should refrain from using their cellular phone during the encounter;

6.5.9 of available secure communication channels and that communication via telephone, video, text, or electronic messaging provides limited security and protection of confidential information;

6.5.10 of potential risks and consequences of sharing confidential information on the internet, social media, text messaging, and videoconferencing sites;

6.5.11 that they are not permitted to disclose or post digital or other electronic communications from social workers or other services users without informed consent.