• 07 SEP 18
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    Stress the importance of confidentiality.

    Ethical issues & poor decision making

    Irresponsibility

    Data Breach

    Bias

    Throughout the study entitled: Ethical Transgressions of School Psychology Graduate Students: A Critical Incidents Survey,” (Tyron,2000,n.pg.) there were many unethical mistakes made; the most important one has to do with confidentiality. While conducting the research, participants were allowed to “[transport] files for fellow student[s]” (Tyron, 2000, n.pg.). In doing so, they “left the files in a public place and [they] were lost including confidential information” (Tyron,2000,n.pg.) and allowed other subjects to “[overhear] negative comments” (Tyron,2000,n.pg.). Here, facilitators were extremely careless and irresponsible.

    According to Principle E of the American Psychological Association’s (APA) code of conduct “respect for people’s rights and dignity” is of the utmost importance and serves to protect individual’s “privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination” (APA,2018,n.pg). On this basis alone, no information that could compromise confidentiality should have ever been breached. Because it is possible that some of these individuals read other subject’s sensitive information, bias has very likely been introduced based on individual opinion. Not only this, but since data was lost, findings were invalid as it was not fully able nor was it capable of capturing due to the fact that there information is missing.

     

     

    3

    Ethical reasoning strategies for improvement

    Stress the importance of confidentiality. (Bodner, 2012).

    Take reasonable steps to avoid harming clients/patients, students, supervisees where it is foreseeable and unavoidable. (APA, 2002, p. 1065).

    Respect the dignity and worth of all people and the rights of individuals to privacy, confidentiality, and self-determination. (Standard 7.04, APA, 2002, p. 1063, 1068).

    Provide active ethics education to inform students about correct actions. (Tryon, 2000).

    Teach ethics in all courses across the curriculum. (Tryon, 2000).

    Surveillance. (Tryon, 2000).

    Punishment. (Tryon, 2000).

    Give a copy of the APA Ethical Principles to all graduate students and have them sign a pledge to abide by the rules. (Tryon, 2000).

    Teach critical thinking to students. (Osmo & Landau, 2006).

    Ask yourself, what kind of worker do you want to be. (Osmo & Landau, 2006).

    Hello, my name is Jerry Knafo. The examples of ethical violations discussed my colleagues are concerning. As Osmo and Landau 2006 state, we need to ask ourselves what kind of individuals or social workers do we want to be? In virtue ethics, it is having certain feelings, as well as acting in certain ways, that makes an action ethically right. (Osmo & Landau, 2006). Of course, we can do surveillance and punish violators as is suggested by Tryon 2000. Perhaps the better or more meaningful approach is to begin with students at the graduate level. (Tryon, 2000). We need to stress the importance of confidentiality. (Bodner, 2012). To do that, Tryon 2000 suggests that we need to teach ethics in all courses across the curriculum. Testing suggests that students who take a class devoted solely to ethics will not necessarily act ethically. (Tryon, 2000). So there is a need to include ethics in all the courses. (Tryon, 2000). In addition, we should give a copy of the APA Ethical Principles to all students and have them read it and sign a pledge to abide by the guidelines contained therein. (Tryon, 2000). Finally, Osmo and Landau 2006 suggest that we should teach critical thinking to students and raise these potentially sticky ethical issues and how to properly deal with them should they arise.

    4

    Ethical reasoning strategies for improvement (cont’d)

    Implement ethical and appropriate gatekeeping policies and procedures. (APA Standard 3.04)(Bodner, 2012).

    Notify students and trainees of potentially problematic competency issues and facilitate remediation when appropriate. (APA Standard 1.04)(Bodner, 2012).

    Develop remediation efforts that allow for enough time to correct deficiencies. Students learn at different rates. (Bodner, 2012).

    Consult with colleagues regarding challenging, complex, and/or diversity related issues. (APA Standards 2.02, 3.09, and 4.06)(Bodner, 2012).

    Respect cultural, individual, and role differences, and being cognizant of how these factors interact with competency judgments (Standards 3.01)(Bodner, 2012).

    Maintain agreements about boundaries of privacy and confidentiality among all parties involved with gatekeeping functions. (APA Standards 4.01, 4.02, 4.04, 6.01, 6.02, and 7.04)(Bodner, 2012).

    Document and maintain records of gatekeeping efforts. (Standards 6.01 and 6.02)(Bodner, 2012).

    Provide program policies in a publicly accessible format, specifically describing program content and outcomes as well as gatekeeping procedures. (APA Standard 7.01 and 7.02)(Bodner, 2012).

    Incorporate agreements about the boundaries of privacy. (APA Standard 7.05)(Bodner, 2012).

    Provide timely feedback to STPPC that establishes clear goals and promoting an active chance to achieve goals. (APA Standard 7.06)(Bodner, 2012).

    Bodner 2012 provides us with several ethical reasoning strategies that will keep us in conformity with the APA standards. Bodner 2012 calls it “Gatekeeping.” Basically, you monitor graduate students to make sure that they conform to the APA standards. If they do not, there are remediation efforts in place to attempt to resolve the problem(s). (Bodner, 2012). If that fails, you document and maintain records of the deficiencies. (Bodner, 2012). Here are some suggestions:

    Notify students and trainees of potentially problematic competency issues and facilitate remediation when appropriate. (APA Standard 1.04)(Bodner, 2012).

    Develop remediation efforts that allow for enough time to correct deficiencies. Students learn at different rates. (Bodner, 2012).

    Consult with colleagues regarding challenging, complex, and/or diversity related issues. (APA Standards 2.02, 3.09, and 4.06)(Bodner, 2012).

    Respect cultural, individual, and role differences, and being cognizant of how these factors interact with competency judgments (Standards 3.01)(Bodner, 2012).

    Maintain agreements about boundaries of privacy and confidentiality among all parties involved with gatekeeping functions. (APA Standards 4.01, 4.02, 4.04, 6.01, 6.02, and 7.04)(Bodner, 2012).

    Document and maintain records of gatekeeping efforts. (Standards 6.01 and 6.02)(Bodner, 2012).

    Provide program policies in a publicly accessible format, specifically describing program content and outcomes as well as gatekeeping procedures. (APA Standard 7.01 and 7.02)(Bodner, 2012).

    Incorporate agreements about the boundaries of privacy. (APA Standard 7.05)(Bodner, 2012).

    Provide timely feedback to STPPC that establishes clear goals and promoting an active chance to achieve goals. (APA Standard 7.06)(Bodner, 2012).

    5

    Conclusion

    References

    American Psychological Association . (2018). Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code.

    Bodner, K. E. (2012). Ethical Principles and Standards That Inform Educational Gatekeeping Practices in Psychology. Ethics & Behavior, 22(1), 60-74. doi:10.1080/10508422.2012.638827.

    Debate.org(2018). Retrieved from http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-students-be-required-to-take- at-least-one-ethics-class

    Smith, D. (2003). Five principles for research ethics. American Psychological Association. 34(1), 56.

    Tyron, G.S. (2000). University of Phoenix . Retrieved from https://library.phoenix.edu/friendly.php?s=COM600/

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