Question: Applying Skills and Knowledge

If you are employed in the human services field, discuss specific skills and knowledge you apply in your human services position. In developing your discussion, cite some examples of how you apply these skills and knowledge in the performance of your duties. Then identify three ethical standards of human service professionals that inform and guide the use of the skills and knowledge you described.

If you have not been employed in the human services field, select a human services occupation from those described in the textbook and describe the skills and knowledge that you believe are necessary to function effectively in that position. Identify three ethical standards of human service professionals that you believe would guide or inform the use of the skills and knowledge you described.

Discussion - Evaluating Tuskegee

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment, conducted between 1932 and 1972, involved the Public Health Service, which conducted an experiment on 399 African-American men in the late stages of syphilis. Treatment, although available, was withheld. These men were illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama. The doctors were interested in studying the effects of untreated syphilis on African-American men. The Henderson Act (1943) requires that treatment be given for venereal disease, and the World Health Organization Declaration of Helsinki (1964) specifies that informed consent is needed in human experiments.

Based on this information, your Thomas and Quinn reading, and your independent research; write and post a discussion topic that addresses the following questions:

Did the Tuskegee experiment violate the ethical standards regarding human subjects in research during the time period it was initiated? Why or why not?

Would this experiment violate today''s ethical standards regarding using human subjects in research? If so, which standards? If not, why not?

Response Guidelines

After reading your peers'' posts, discuss the following question with your fellow learners: The Tuskegee study or experiment is considered by many to be one of the most racist, inhumane, and unethical human experiments ever conducted in the United States. Do you agree with this position? Why or why not?