The Vernacular Ethics of Stigmatized Care: Reinterpreting Acceptance and Confidentiality for Social Work in the West Bank

On March (2022), Byers, David., Fareed, Anan., & Hreish, Khalid published a new study in Social Service Review titled "The Vernacular Ethics of Stigmatized Care: Reinterpreting Acceptance and Confidentiality for Social Work in the West Bank”. The article aimed to examine how Palestinian social workers in the West Bank organize themselves ethically to provide stigmatized care—where social workers supporting people with socially rejected conditions and experiences can face community scorn by extension. Our analysis reveals localized reinterpretations of acceptance and confidentiality as ethically grounded principles for stigmatized care. These practice principles have emerged under strain in cases involving substance use, sex work, sexual variance, sexual violence, and child abuse allegations but reach a limit around accusations of collaboration with the occupation. Our findings reflect a dynamic vernacular ethics: a politicized field of shared concerns and debates that social workers use to guide their practice without a codified ethical system. For more information about the study, please contact us at: (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).