ABSTRACT School psychologists are frequently confronted with ethically challenging situations arising from the need to balance multiple parties’ competing interests and the challenge of serving as both student advocate and school employee. Use of a systematic decision-making model has been recommended as a way of improving the quality of school psychologists’ ethical decisions. In the present study, school psychology practitioners were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a Critical Evaluative condition, requiring the use of a problem-solving approach to resolve (...) an ethical dilemma, or an Intuitive condition, which entailed generating a solution based solely on intuition and professional experience/judgment. Use of a formal decision-making model did not result in higher caliber ethical resolutions. Participants’ age and number of years in the field were significantly correlated with raters’ judgments that solutions considered the consequences of a chosen course of action. Most participants reported that they did not utilize an ethical decision-making model during the course of their practice, relying instead on consultation with peers/colleagues and their own professional experience. Implications of these findings are discussed in the context of school psychology practice. (shrink)

One ethical issue that commonly comes up in clinical practice is the negotiation of fees with clients. Although the APA Ethics Code provides standards regarding clients who are unable to or do not pay, little guidance is given pertaining to fee limits for clients who want to pay more. This issue is explored using a real case example, including the relevant ethical codes to be considered. The necessary “gray” areas of ethical decision-making are demonstrated through my own decision process. Implications (...) for future scenarios are discussed. (shrink)

The American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct places ethical obligations upon psychologists based on another’s “age, gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, culture, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language or socioeconomic status.” This article explores 18 major problems with ethical prescriptions contained in the Ethical Code involving this phrase, including problems in clarity, inconsistency, comprehensiveness, its epistemic assumptions, and its impossibility for adherence, among others.

This study evaluated the integration of psychology ethics into an introductory psychology course. Students in two general psychology sections were exposed to an infusion of psychology ethics in teaching, research, and clinical practice, whereas students in two sections were exposed to traditional course content. Students completed a pre and post-test assessment including a psychology ethics questionnaire and open-ended responses to three ethics case studies. Students in the ethics group displayed a statistically significant increase in scores on both measures from pre (...) to post-test. However, students in the traditional group showed no improvement in scores. (shrink)

ABSTRACT This cross-sectional study compared the moral reasoning of first-year and third-year doctoral students in clinical psychology. Nineteen first-year and 20 third-year students were recruited from 17 doctoral training programs in the UK. Most adopted a sophisticated approach to moral judgments, as assessed by the Defining Issues Test, although, surprisingly, more experienced students had significantly less sophisticated schemata. In their moral judgments, less experienced students relied more heavily on their personal, and more experienced students on their professional, constructs, as assessed (...) by repertory grid technique. Integration between personal and professional constructs was higher in more experienced students. (shrink)

Given the prevalence of emotional and psychological problems among professional psychologists, a primary concern to the field is impairment, or problems of professional competence. Graduate students, in particular, are an especially vulnerable subpopulation of mental health care professionals. Despite graduate students' heightened risk of impairment, relatively little attention has been paid in the literature to the handling of impairment in graduate students in academic training programs. Recommendations for a proactive approach to addressing impairment in trainees are discussed with respect to (...) students, supervisors, and training programs. As graduate school is the first major milestone in a therapist's development, psychologists as gatekeepers of the field of psychology must accept an ethical responsibility to appropriately monitor, acknowledge, and manage impairment among trainees. (shrink)

The profession of psychology is one of many entities affected by the current economic recession. The question of what to do when clients cannot pay agreed-upon charges will need to be answered. Ethical issues related to setting the fee for psychotherapy, insurance coverage, abandonment, pro bono psychotherapy, and lack of resources are addressed in light of the 2002 American Psychological Association's Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct and other relevant literature. The impact of the Mental Health Parity Act (...) on the financial complexities that professionals in psychology now face is also discussed. Several recommendations are made for psychologists, calling them to be proactive in their communities, to be advocates for their clients, and to critically evaluate their financial practices. (shrink)

Celem artykułu jest analiza rozbieżności w kwalifikacji deontologicznej czynów pomiędzy etyką ogólną a normami kodeksowymi psychoterapii. Wspominane rozbieżności analizowane są na przykładzie normy poufności i normy taktu. Wykazane zostają rozbieżności pomiędzy podstawowymi kategoriami deontycznymi w obu porównywanych systemach w zakresie norm poufności i taktu, świadczące o niezależności etyki zawodowej psychoterapeutów od etyki ogólnej.

ABSTRACT The authors argue that individual psychologists have an obligation to understand, review, and comment on upcoming revisions of the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Psychologists may want to consider several factors as they review and prepare comments on these revisions. Among other things, commenting psychologists should consider the purposes of ethics codes and how the writing of a code can meet or balance these often-conflicting purposes; the overarching ethical theory or theories that should form the basis (...) of the APA Ethics Code; and the extent to which individual standards are useful and comprehensive, and avoid unnecessary harm to both the public and psychologists. The authors provide examples from the current and recent APA Ethics Codes to illustrate the types of decisions that psychologists must make when evaluating revisions to the APA Ethics Code. (shrink)

Professionals often find themselves in ethical dilemmas and seek the advice of their peers. This article offers a template for those who wish to assist their colleagues in these situations. After making various assumptions, the author lists questions to ask oneself before accepting such requests. Then, a step-by-step framework is offered, followed by recommendations.