An acculturation model for ethics training: The ethics autobiography and beyond.

An integrated theme for ethics courses and workshops can be very valuable to psychologists engaged in ethics training. The model of ethical acculturation (M. M. Handelsman, M. C. Gottlieb, & S. Knapp, 2005) can serve as a framework for ethics training at undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education levels. The authors outline several advantages of focusing on the process of acculturating to the ethics of psychology rather than having students simply memorize ethics principles and standards. They discuss several pedagogical activities used to implement the acculturation theme and to help students become more active participants in their learning. Examples from student papers and course discussions highlight the ways these techniques aid in the teaching, learning, and assessment of learning in professional ethics training. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The ethical practice of psychology in a managed-care framework.

With the rise of managed healthcare, psychologists face new challenges to their professional ethics. This article examines the dilemmas posed by managed care in 3 areas: client care, the handling of patient data, and issues surrounding membership in a managed-healthcare organization. Case examples of ethical dilemmas and strategies for dealing with these challenges are presented. In an attempt to summarize the strategies used to cope with the ethical dilemmas presented in the case examples, global solutions for the ethical practice of psychology in a managed-care framework are also reviewed. These strategies include understanding managed-care policies, clear communication with the client, additional training, increased advocacy by clinicians, and ultimately, psychologists' involvement in the formation of these organizations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Introducing ethics to beginning psychologists: A problem-solving approach.

Beginning and practicing psychologists both need more exposure to ethical training experiences. A new Canadian code of ethics provides an opportunity for universities to review their approach to this experience for students in clinical and counseling psychology. In the Canadian code, four basic ethical principles, followed by value statements and standards of behavior, are proposed. This structure provides a useful framework for ethics education. In addition, the problem-solving approach to ethical and moral dilemmas provides a better decision-making process for new psychologists than does simple exposure to professional behavior guidelines. The approach used at the University of Alberta is presented with the recommendation that ethical instruction focus on personal values and the process of informed decision making as well as learning "correct" responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Competency Training in Ethics Education and Practice.

This article provides an overview of issues, including identification of core competencies and strategies for training and assessment, related to ethics education and training for psychologists. It summarizes the products emerging from the ethics working group at the November 2002 Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology, held in Scottsdale, Arizona. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics and mediation

Ethics dialogue in this case is first used as a framework to initiate reflection on which forms of conflict resolution are appropriate in specific situations. This helps in planning and strategies, but does not guarantee what the outcome will actually be. Ethics dialogue, however, can also be used as a form of conflict resolution. For example, when the patient in the story wants to avoid revealing the names of her past dentists, an ethical framework could be presented that would respect her autonomy (an ethical term) and her right to privacy (a legal term), while still addressing your need to determine if the primary problem is of an ethical or dental nature, and if your role is to be that of a healing mediator or a healing dentist. This same form of conflict resolution could also be applied elsewhere in the story. For example, ethics dialogue would have been appropriate during the consultation between you and the endodontist, or between you and the patient, prior to the lawyer's formal request for the patient's records. It is difficult, however, for you to reduce conflict through an ethical dialogue once the lawyer requests information from you because, at that point, the adjudication process has already begun. The ethical reflection exercise will, however, help you negotiate through the adjudication process by providing a solid ethical reference point concerning conflict resolution. The February issue's ethics column will provide a framework for evaluating the forms of power available in conflict resolution in terms of justice.     

Some principles for ethics education: Implementing the acculturation model.

In 2005, the authors (Handelsman, Gottlieb, & Knapp, 2005) proposed that ethics education be conducted based on a model of ethics acculturation. Here, the authors extend that work by offering some principles that support implementation of an ethics acculturation model (EAM) over the full course of professional preparation. The authors argue that ethics education should be life-long and provide students and trainees with positive, ongoing, experiential, and supportive educational environments and activities. After presenting and explaining each principle, the authors offer a detailed example showing how various exercises from the existing literature may be employed to facilitate students' ethical development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethics-based training for nonclinical staff in mental health settings.

Under the Ethics Code of the American Psychological Association (2002), psychologists are responsible for ensuring that delegated tasks are performed competently. For staff members who interact with clients or who have access to confidential client information, technical competence may not suffice. Psychologists who want to provide the best protection for clients can offer staff training that fosters “ethical competence” as well. Setting-specific ethics training is important even for personnel who have previously worked in other mental health sites, because it demonstrates how the profession’s ethical standards will be upheld through specific policies in the current setting. From an ethical perspective, staff training is not an end in itself or a risk-management strategy for protecting psychologists; rather, it is a means of protecting clients and their rights. The goal is to create a culture of safety (S. J. Knapp & L. D. VandeCreek, 2006) in which upholding ethical standards becomes everyone’s shared responsibility. This ethics-based training would be appropriate for nonclinical staff, clinical staff, supervisees, and students. It can be adapted to outpatient, inpatient, research, or academic clinic settings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Being ethical in organizational research.

Suggests that even a researcher guided by moral intentions and learned in the code of ethics of the American Psychological Association is unprepared for the challenge of being ethical in organizational research. When dealing with persons in situ, in their normal role relations with others, ethical dilemmas arise from the researcher becoming entangled in a network of multiple roles and in the ambiguous and conflicting expectations derived from them. This article describes research with organized Ss and proposes role theory as a means for understanding ethical dilemmas in organizational research and for guiding the creation of research relationships with participants in which to address and moderate these dilemmas. It is proposed that research training and a code of ethics be developed that help researchers establish means for dealing with dilemmas in which there are no ethical solutions except those resting on the ad hoc consent of all parties. (26 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training child clinical predoctoral interns and postdoctoral fellows in ethics and professional issues: An experiential model.

The purpose of this article is to outline an experiential professional issues and ethics seminar program developed for predoctoral psychology interns and postdoctoral fellows in the child psychology training program at Stanford University Medical School. It is imperative that trainees develop a comprehensive and practical understanding of both ethical principles and professional issues before completing their academic and clinical training in psychology. A review of this seminar program may help other internship and postdoctoral training programs develop or fine-tune their methods of educating trainees in both professional issues and ethics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Protecting confidentiality rights: The need for an ethical practice model.

All psychologists must uphold the same ethical standards about confidentiality even though each state imposes different legal limits on their ability to protect clients' confidences. The resulting ethical-legal confusion is exacerbated by legally based confidentiality training that treats legal exceptions as if they were the rule and fosters the impression that attorneys are now the only real experts about this aspect of practice. This article provides an ethics-based confidentiality practice model that clarifies the ethical rule and puts its legal exceptions into ethical perspective. Like the Confidentiality section of the American Psychological Association's (2002) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, this outline would apply to all psychologists regardless of state laws, but the details of its implementation would vary according to role and setting. It can be used as a universal training outline, a consultation and supervision tool, a guide to professional practice, and a basis for clearer ongoing conversation about the ethics of "conditional confidentiality." Psychologists can use this practice model to regain their status as experts about the confidentiality ethics of their own profession. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A Canadian perspective on using vignettes to teach ethics in psychology.

Vignettes depicting ethical dilemmas are used widely in teaching and learning professional ethics. Such an approach can facilitate learning by allowing opportunities to work through ethical dilemmas using practical, realistic, and complex material that enables participants to: engage in discussion; explore applicable ethical principles; and ideally, to achieve a deeper level of ethical understanding. Despite their widespread use, little research has been conducted on how to maximise the benefits of using ethical dilemmas, nor on the most ethically appropriate ways of presenting scenarios derived, at least in part, from actual occurrences. In this article, we endeavour to contextualise the use of vignettes within the framework provided by the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists, Third Edition (Canadian Psychological Association, 2000) and to use the principles and standards therein to suggest guidelines for the ethical creation and use of vignettes. We begin by reviewing the literature on the use of ethical dilemmas in teaching and learning ethics, including a discussion of the benefits to be gained from using vignettes as one component of a comprehensive approach to ethics education. This is followed by discussion of ethical considerations relevant to the creation and use of vignettes of ethical dilemmas. We conclude with a series of recommendations informed by the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists to guide psychologists in using such illustrative material in an ethically appropriate manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The supervision genogram: A tool for preparing supervisors-in-training.

The purpose of this article is to introduce the supervision genogram as a training tool that can be implemented in supervisor training. The supervision genogram is a unique training tool that may be used to enhance supervisors'-in-training self-awareness and understanding of the supervisory process. Psychological trainers who are responsible for training supervisors may also find that the supervision genogram can aid them in assessing the needs of supervisors-in-training and in creating corresponding supervisory environments and experiences. A detailed account of how to develop and process the supervision genogram is given. An overview of supervision genogram symbols and a completed supervision genogram are also provided. Implications for training, such as flexibility of application, ethical and professional issues, and developmental considerations for using this tool are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rethinking the concept of acculturation: Implications for theory and research.

This article presents an expanded model of acculturation among international migrants and their immediate descendants. Acculturation is proposed as a multidimensional process consisting of the confluence among heritage-cultural and receiving-cultural practices, values, and identifications. The implications of this reconceptualization for the acculturation construct, as well as for its relationship to psychosocial and health outcomes, are discussed. In particular, an expanded operationalization of acculturation is needed to address the “immigrant paradox,” whereby international migrants with more exposure to the receiving cultural context report poorer mental and physical health outcomes. We discuss the role of ethnicity, cultural similarity, and discrimination in the acculturation process, offer an operational definition for context of reception, and call for studies on the role that context of reception plays in the acculturation process. The new perspective on acculturation presented in this article is intended to yield a fuller understanding of complex acculturation processes and their relationships to contextual and individual functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Ethical flaws in training analysis.

With the spread of Freud's psychoanalytic movement, in numbers as well as in ideas, there came a time when what used to be informal "training," in the course of peripatetic or brief analyses with the master, was bureaucratized as a tripartite training system consisting of training analysis, didactic instruction, and analytic work under supervision. This was codified in the first official psychoanalytic institute, established in Berlin, that superseded the earlier tradition of Freud's Vienna. This development created a perennial tension between the goals of training and of treatment, with blurring of boundaries and creation of insurmountable ethical conflicts. The crux of the conflict is that the vested interests of the training analyst hamper the spirit of a good-enough treatment analysis: freedom of choice, suitable analysand-analyst fit, and more. This article is an analysis of these ethical conflicts and a plea for reform. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The APA Ethical Principles as a foundational competency: Application to rehabilitation psychology.

Overview: Competence is a core component of ethical conduct as reflected in its addition as an ethical standard in the 2002 APA Ethics Code. Successfully operationalizing and assessing competence provides psychologists a means to improve education and training, advance the field of practice, and create a framework for accountability to the public. Much of the recent competency discussion has been in response to a proposed Cube Model, with its three axes being foundational competencies (practice building blocks, such as scientific knowledge, ethical standards), functional competencies (attributes of providing services, such as assessment, intervention), and developmental progression (acquiring increasing competence over the course of one's education and career). Ethics is included on the foundational competency axis and has been operationalized to the extent that subcomponents and benchmarks have been promulgated. The competency model as proposed faces multiple challenges, including gaining consensus regarding its components, addressing reliable and valid assessment over time, and creating a culture of acceptance. We propose the Ethical Principles as an alternative framework for conceptualizing ethics as a foundational competency given the Ethics Code is already time tested and includes a serial review process for broad discipline input and adaptability. We apply the Ethical Principles as foundational components to rehabilitation psychology training at internship, postdoctoral, and specialty levels to illustrate the model. Conclusion: Rehabilitation psychology should engage in the competency movement at the predoctoral and postdoctoral level. The application of the Ethical Principles as a foundational competency to rehabilitation psychology represents a first step in this dialog. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating Ethics into the Engineered Construction Curriculum

Equality, life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, security, civic duty, justice, honor, and the rule of law are some of the widely held values in society. These are the values engineers must adopt to comply with regulations. Unfortunately, there is a lack of awareness in construction education regarding how to integrate social awareness and ethical behavior into professional practice. Several challenges facing construction engineering educators are how to develop strategies that will raise the awareness of students regarding ethical issues related to construction and how to provide a framework to make ethical decisions. Social values should serve as the basis for university-level ethics instruction. The objectives of this paper are to discuss the various disciplines that are available for use in developing course material and classroom presentations, and to describe a framework for making ethical decisions. Problem solving in ethics is a skill that is very much needed by students, but is quite difficult to teach. The approach described herein uses real world construction ethics cases and invited guest lectures from the construction industry plus multiple required and elective courses explore ethical theories, concepts of critical thinking, and major ethical issues related to the construction industry.     

The role of positive ethics and virtues in the context of sport and performance psychology service delivery.

Ethical principles developed for clinical/counseling psychologists are a useful, but incomplete, guide for sport and performance psychology (SPP) practitioners. Positive and virtue ethics are introduced to the SPP ethical literature as an additional resource. Positive ethics focus on practitioners' reaching their fullest potential rather than avoiding risk (Knapp & VanDeCreek, 2006). Virtue ethics emphasize the character of the professional rather than situational variables (Newman, Robinson-Kurpius, & Fuqua, 2002). The context in which SPP practice occurs is described and commonly resulting ethical dilemmas are identified. The aspects of SPP context explored are: the domain of performance, SPP settings, SPP interventions, and expectations. The ethical issues discussed are: multiple relationships (including boundaries and dual agency), confidentiality, and self-regulation. Drawing from positive and virtue ethics as well as small community and military psychology, advice for managing the issues is provided. The inclusion of character and fitness requirements in training programs is explored to address the self-governance necessitated by the professional isolation of SPP practitioners. Suggestions for future professional practice and research are offered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A national survey of American Psychological Association student affiliates' involvement and ethical training in psychology educator-student sexual relationships.

What would you do if during your psychology training you became aware that another student and educator in your program were involved in a sexual relationship with each other? This is one of many questions that were posed to present American Psychological Association student affiliates. Participants were also asked about their knowledge and involvement in sexual contacts and advances with psychology educators, their beliefs about such contacts, and the adequacy of their ethics training. Results show that sexual behaviors are still occurring and that many students would not feel safe pursuing any type of action to address such relationships. There is still much progress to be made in training students and educators in identifying, addressing, reporting, and enforcing sexually related ethical issues. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When HIPAA and FERPA apply to university training clinics.

University training clinics should carefully evaluate whether they are correctly applying HIPAA and FERPA to their clients. Their misapplication may not only violate federal law, but may also violate the ethics code, and cause significant harm to clients. Moreover, their proper use has taken on greater urgency because of several important, recent developments. This article details when HIPAA and FERPA apply to university training clinics and describes their effects on clients, student therapists, and their supervisors. It also makes recommendations for training student therapists about HIPAA and FERPA including when they both apply to a training clinic. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Real-time training: Transfer of knowledge through computer-mediated, real-time feedback.

In this article, the author describes an interactive, computer-mediated method/technology for promoting transfer of knowledge, theoretically grounded in cognitive science, that responds specifically to needs outlined by Binder (1993; 1999) and Berger (2004) for integrating cognitive psychology principles and interactive, computer-mediated methods with psychotherapy training. The article provides a context for understanding the process known as Real-Time Training (RTT; Rosenberg, 2000a) by reviewing expertise research literature as applied to clinical training, describing the conceptual framework underlying the development of RTT, reviewing live and computer-mediated supervision methods for clinical training, providing preliminary research validation of RTT, and discussing clinical training and supervision implications. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)