Ethics and Professional Standards Flashcards
Privilege
in communications
Privilege is a legal concept that protects a client’s confidentiality in the context of legal proceedings. Most jurisdictions have laws that establish privilege for communications between licensed mental health practitioners and their clients. The client is ordinarily the “holder of the privilege,” but a psychologist can claim the privilege on behalf of a client, and there are legally defined exceptions to privilege.
Standard 1.08 - ethics complaint revenge
“psychologists do not deny persons employment, advancement, admissions to academic or other programs, tenure, or promotion, based solely upon their having made or their being the subject of an ethics complaint”
Standard 10.10 - termination
requires psychologists to “terminate therapy when it becomes reasonably clear that the client/patient no longer needs the service, is not likely to benefit, or is being harmed by continued service” and, when doing so, to “provide pretermination counseling and suggest alternative service providers as appropriate.”
Standard 10.10(b) -termination + threat
pretermination counseling or referral is not necessary when a psychologist is terminating therapy with a client because the client or a person the client has a relationship with poses a threat to the psychologist.
Standards 7.01-7.06 - supervision
address education and supervision and require psychologists to act competently and responsibly when teaching, supervising, and designing education and training programs and to avoid misrepresenting themselves or their work when performing these functions.
Standard 5.05
Testimonials
states that “psychologists do not solicit testimonials from current therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence.”
Guidelines For Child Custody Evaluations
It states that determining the “psychological best interests” of the child is the primary purpose of a child custody evaluation and that the child’s welfare is always of paramount importance.
Standard 9.04 - providing test data
“pursuant to a client/patient release, psychologists provide test data to the client/patient or other persons identified in the release. (this includes responses to questions, notes, and recordings)
Standard 7.07 - sexual relationships with supervisees or students
do not engage in sexual relationships with students or supervisees who are in their department, agency, or training center or over whom psychologists have or are likely to have evaluative authority.
Standard 9.08 - outdated tests
do not base their assessment or intervention decisions or recommendations on data or test results that are outdated for the current purpose
Standard 3.10 - informed consent
“when psychologists conduct research or provide assessment, therapy, counseling, or consulting services in person or via electronic transmission or other forms of communication, they obtain the informed consent of the individual or individuals using language that is reasonably understandable to that person or persons.”
(1) provide an appropriate explanation, (2) seek the individual’s assent, (3) consider such persons’ preferences and best interests, and (4) obtain appropriate permission from a legally authorized person.”
Standard 5.06 - solicitation
psychologists do not engage, directly or through agents, in uninvited in-person solicitation of business from actual or potential therapy clients/patients or other persons who because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence
Standard 2.01 - competence
provide services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience.”
Standard 3.05 - multiple relationships
“a psychologist refrains from entering into a multiple relationship if it could reasonably be expected to impair the psychologist’s objectivity, competence, or effectiveness in performing his or her functions as a psychologist, or otherwise risks exploitation or harm to the person with whom the professional relationship exists.”
Malpractice
1) must have actually worked with the person “duty of care”
2) demonstrable standard of care that the therapist breached
3) person has to have suffered harm or injury
4) psychologist’s breach was the proximal cause of the injury
Fact Witness
“who testifies as to what he/she has seen, heard, or otherwise observed regarding a circumstance, event or occurrence as it actually took place…. Fact witnesses are generally not allowed to offer an opinion, address issues that they do not have personal knowledge of or respond to hypothetical situations”
Expert Witness
“who by reason of education or specialized experience possesses superior knowledge respecting a subject about which persons having no particular training are incapable of forming an accurate opinion or deducing correct conclusions”
8.02 - informed consent for research
Informed Consent for Research:
1) purpose of the research, duration
2) right to decline
3) foreseeable consequences of leaving or withdrawing
4) risks, discomfort, or adverse effects
5) prospective research benefits
6) limits of confidentiality
7) incentive for participation
8) who to contact for questions
8.07 - deception in research
deception in research:
a) only okay when the added value of the research justifies it, and non-deception is not feasible.
b) No deception about distress or pain
c) debriefing, either at the end of the experiment or at the end of data collection
Pro bono services are
recommended by the Code but are not required.
Client access to records
psychologist is the owner of the physical record while the client has the right to inspect the contents of the record.
Standard 10.05, 10.08 - sexual relationships
No sex with current clients, no sex with former clients until after 2 years, only in “most unusual circumstances”
Standard 10.07 - sexual relationships + therapy
No therapy for people who you have had a sexual relationship with in the past
Insanity defense
“that person lacks substantial capacity to appreciate the wrongfulness of the act or lacks substantial capacity to behave according to the requirements of the law”
Standard 6.04 - collection agencies
collection agencies are allowed as long as the psychologist informs the client
Cost analysis
Methods of cost analysis include cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness, cost-utility, cost-feasibility, cost-minimization analysis, and cost-offset analysis.
Sexual Misconduct Stats
The data also show that male therapists who engage in sexual misconduct are usually older than the female clients they become involved with, with the average therapist being between 42 and 44 and the client being between 30 and 33.
Sexual Misconduct correlations
No consistent relationship has been found between risk for sexual misconduct and theoretical orientation, professional experience, or education (Pope et al., 1993).
Standard 1.04 - discussion of ethical violation
discuss the ethical violation with the offender
Standard 1.05 - reporting ethical violations
make a formal report to the Ethics Committee, state licensing board, or whoever else when the problem involves substantial harm
Sliding Fee Scale
Not addressed, considered acceptable
Dusky v. United States (1960)
defines a defendant as incompetent if, as the result of mental defect or illness, the defendant lacks “sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding, and … a rational as well as a factual understanding of the proceedings against him.”
Standard 2.06 - personal problems
refrain from initiating an activity when they know or should know that there is a substantial likelihood that their personal problems will prevent them from performing their work-related activities in a competent manner
Standard 10.04 - more than one therapist
“proceed with caution” when a client already has a therapist
Standard 8.12 - authorship on papers
(a) Psychologists take responsibility and credit, including authorship credit, only for work they have actually performed or to which they have substantially contributed … [and] (b) Principal authorship and other publication credits accurately reflect the relative scientific or professional contributions of the individuals involved, regardless of their relative status.”
Standard 6.07 - referral fees
No referral fees, only fee for service
Vicarious Liability
Under certain circumstances, supervisors and employers may be legally responsible for the actions of their supervisees and employees. This is referred to as vicarious liability (respondeat superior).
Standard 4.06 - consultation and confidentiality
Consultation: no confidential information that could lead to identification, only disclose info that could help the consultation
Responding a subpoena
a) is it valid?
b) talk to the client
c) if the client consents, go forward
d) if the client does not consent, file a motion to be excused from the subpoena or get a protective order
Tarasoff Decision
“duty to warn” an intended victim of a therapy client; however, in a rehearing of the case, this was changed to a “duty to protect” an intended victim by warning him/her, notifying the police, or taking other steps.
Only when imminent danger to an identifiable victim
Standard 3.02 - sexual harassment
sexual solicitation, physical advances, or verbal or nonverbal conduct that is sexual in nature, that occurs in connection with the psychologist’s activities or roles as a psychologist
