Spirituality, Diversity, and Ethical Decision-making: The Inclusive Wesleyan Quadrilateral Discernment Model

Abstract

Social workers and other helping professionals act as moral agents within society when faced with ethical dilemmas. Over the last three decades, there has been a proliferation of ethical decision-making models available to practitioners that range from the rational, centered on objective step-bystep actions, to the reflective, focused on the character and outlook of the practitioner. Responding to calls for a more integrative approach to ethical decision-making grounded in the virtue of moral courage, this article introduces the Inclusive Wesleyan Quadrilateral Discernment Model (WQ Model). Drawing from a range of interprofessional literature, this model combines attributes of both rational and reflective models, with an emphasis on cultural humility and spiritual discernment. Unlike other integrative methods, the WQ Model applies a holistic bio-psycho-social-spiritual approach to understanding the practitioner as moral agent. Engaging the religious and spiritual dimensions of practitioners, this model centralizes each practitioner's unique sources of moral knowledge and contextual diversity experiences through application of the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. With an emphasis on spiritual discernment, the WQ Model places the Wesleyan Quadrilateral in dialogue with the moral principles of bioethics for resolving ethical dilemmas and reducing moral distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]