A Practitioner 's Guide to Ethical Decision Making Holly Forester-Miller, Ph.D. Thomas Davis, Ph.D. Copyright © 1996, American Counseling Association. A free publication of the American Counseling Association promoting ethical counseling practice in service to the public. -- Printed and bound copies may be purchased in quantity for a nominal fee from the Online Resource Catalog or by calling the ACA Distribution Center at 800.422.2648. ACA grants reproduction rights to libraries, researchers and teachers who wish to copy all or part of the contents of this document for scholarly purposes provided that no fee for the use or possession of such copies is charged to the ultimate consumer of the copies. Proper citation to ACA must be given. …show more content…
Clients must be able to trust the counselor and have faith in the therapeutic relationship if growth is to occur. Therefore, the counselor must take care not to threaten the therapeutic relationship nor to leave obligations unfulfilled. When exploring an ethical dilemma, you need to examine the situation and see how each of the above principles may relate to that particular case. At times this alone will clarify the issues enough that the means for resolving the dilemma will become obvious to you. In more complicated cases it is helpful to be able to work through the steps of an ethical decision making model, and to assess which of these moral principles may be in conflict. Ethical Decision Making Model We have incorporated the work of Van Hoose and Paradise (1979), Kitchener (1984), Stadler (1986), Haas and Malouf (1989), Forester-Miller and Rubenstein (1992), and Sileo and Kopala (1993) into a practical, sequential, seven step, ethical decision making model. A description and discussion of the steps follows. 1. Identify the Problem. Gather as much information as you can that will illuminate the situation. In doing so, it is important to be as specific and objective as possible. Writing ideas on paper may help you gain clarity. Outline the facts, separating out innuendos, assumptions, hypotheses, or suspicions. There are several questions you can ask yourself: Is it an ethical, legal, professional, or clinical problem? Is it a combination of more than
Counseling is a profession that involves associations based on principles and values ethically. Patients are able to benefit by understanding themselves better and through creating relationships with others. Through counseling, the clients are able to make positive alteration in life and enhance their living standards. Communities, organizations, couples and families are different groups of individuals are main sources of relationships (BACP Ethical Framework, 2013, p.4). Frameworks of ethical practice direct the attention of counseling practitioners to engage in ethical responsibilities. This stud describes the purpose of each principle following the development of good counseling practice. Practitioners make reasonable decisions grounded on these principles without making any contradictions. Nevertheless, research indicates that professionals have met barriers hindering them to integrate all the principles in some cases. In such situations, they are forced to select between required principles. A course of action or a decision is not a merely ethical because it is contentious and that some professionals may have come up with differing judgments. Counseling practitioners should consider all reasonable circumstances by being careful and making appropriate justifications for their decisions
The American Counseling Association and the American Mental Health Counselors Association Codes of Ethics both provide guidance and direction in making ethical decisions for their members (ACA, 2005) (AMHCA, 2010). Both the ACA and the AMHCA Codes of Ethics cover a wide range of moral and ethical situations that could present themselves to mental health professionals. Both of these codes of ethics have significant impacts on the counseling profession. The tools provided by these codes of ethics ensure that mental health professionals are able to conform to the regulations set forth. They address common concerns from varying points of view. Understanding these codes of ethics is essential to all mental
Professional counselors deal with many legal and ethical issues in the course of treating clients. Some of the issues they may come across include dual relationships, boundaries, bartering, sexual relationships, gift giving, touching a client, and how to begin or end treatment. Some of these issues may seem straightforward in theory, but they can become complicated in practice. In these cases, if possible, a counselor should seek consultation before making any decisions. Ethical dilemmas are an area where professional counselors should continually receive consultation and ongoing education. This paper provides a summary of how a video presentation, the ACA Code of Ethics, and Maryland’s board regulations for professional counselors handle dual relationships, boundaries, gift giving, touch, and beginning and ending treatment. The paper will go on to discuss my reaction to these issues. Finally, I will discuss how I plan to apply what I have learned to my own counseling practice.
Ms. Belinda Coulter, Arlinda Blankumsee, and Georgia Green, The School of Professional Counseling, Lindsey Wilson College.Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Ms. Belinda Coulter, Arlinda Blankumsee, and Georgia Green, Email: belinda.coulter@lindsey.edy, arlinda.blankumsee@lindsey.edu, georgia.green@lindsey.edu.
When providing counseling services to individuals or a group of individuals, one needs to be cautious on his or her approach to everyone’s specific needs. Even though there are a variety of methods to solving a problem, some methods encounter ethical dilemmas. The ethical dilemma is about Jane, a counselor at a community college, who starts a relationship skills group for nine individuals between the ages of 18-25. In her primary course of action, she encounters several ethical dilemmas: she fails to provide sufficient information about the group in an advertisement, encounters ethical problems within the enrollment process, fails
The purpose of this document is to analyze two ethical decision-making models, transcultural and practitioner’s. The first discussion will offer a comprehensive depiction of the guiding principles of the practitioner’s model, as well as the steps that a counselor would need to follow to resolve ethical dilemmas. The next discussion will provide a description of the transcultural model. This paper will then provide readers a description of the case of Simone and a description of the function of the two-preceding ethical decision-making models. The final discussion will involve a conversation about the author’s personal values and beliefs that could impact the therapeutic relationship and affect how the counselor responds to ethical and legal issues that may be present in a counseling relationship.
According to Pope and Vasquez (2007), there are 18 steps used in the ethical decision making process, and these steps serve as a guide for every professional psychologist. The steps are available to help the psychologist know when he or she must think through and know how to respond appropriately to an ethical dilemma, how to take responsibility for his or her actions to the response that he or she has made. These steps will also assist the psychologist in coming up with a way to see specific aspects of the situation, he or she will be able to consider both the negative and the positive consequences in which an individual could respond, and finally the steps will help the psychologist to develop different approaches to meet the needs of the client. The first 14 steps will be considered in this section as it relates to the role of the psychologist and what boundary issues are.
Mikaela Barnett Chaltas, The School of Professional Counseling, Lindsey Wilson College. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Mikaela Barnett Chaltas, Ashland, Kentucky campus. Email: mikaela_barnett@yahoo.com
Ethics is something that defines us like human beings because we use honor like a tool trying not to use a personal code of ethics is like not acting like humans. Because we are in a university again, using our personal code of ethics with the university Student Code of Academic Integrity will make us at the end better human beings.
Researchers in quantitative research methods investigations study phenomena in their “natural settings, where the purpose is contextualization, interpretation, and/or understanding the perspectives of others.” The task of a quantitative researcher in an experiment is described by special participation and sympathetic considerate. The questions are particular to the research area, for “both researchers and institutional review boards (IRBs)”, involve the developing nature of qualitative research, an investigator’s association with research subjects, getting informed consent, and confidentiality and privacy. Information will be collected from 100 companies in Birmingham and Atlanta, and questionnaires will be used to collect
In unit 5, we were only assigned one assignment and that was the brochure assignment. For the brochure assignment, my partner and I did Identity Theft and Computers as our topic. After analyzing the brochure assignment, I think that the information part of the brochure was our best work. We demonstrated extensive research skills by doing a lot of research that is enough to educate the reader on the topic. The information was relevant, made sense and covered the topic very well. The brochure included information that explained the dangers of Identity theft, how to prevent it, possible solutions, etc. From the information, I had learned many new things and gained a lot of new knowledge about Identity Theft and Computers such as how to prevent it, what is it, etc. Also, I learned how to create a proper brochure using publisher and its various elements. I will continue to use publisher in the future for school
This paper will explore the concept of dual relationships between counselors and clients and the ethical implications of such relationships. In addition to presenting several examples of dual relationships, this paper will also explore how ethical decisions must be made to avoid potentially harmful or exploitive relationships in therapy as well understanding how different interactions between counselor and clients can be understood from an ethical standpoint, as well as how reviewing these ethical dilemmas may shape my future career as a counselor.
Healthcare professionals must adhere to the ethics and standards of practice. Which within express the importance of gaining a patient’s confidence and trust (National Association for Healthcare Quality, 2011). Granger (2013) implies that basic introduction with healthcare professionals addressing a patient, is a first basic step taught within any clinical interaction. Without it patients are lead to feel vulnerable and awkward, therefore trust and confidence is not gained, compromising patient safety.
A code of ethics is one of many documents an organization will develop to establish how they will conduct business. In many organizations, documents such as the mission statement stand alone and are reviewed annually, put on company letter head, passed out on business cards and so forth. To increase the visibility of an organization, I would take steps to add bullets from the organizations ethics program to things such as business cards, put it on the corporate website, have it as a screen saver on all corporate computers and even integrate it into the voice mail of phones and when callers are placed on hold. I would ensure the organization looks at its corporate ethics in a similar fashion as this look at their vision statement.
According to Guido, ethics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of human action. A broader definition would be that ethics involves the principles or assumptions underpinning the way individuals or groups ought to conduct themselves.