Ethics Final

Duty to Warn

this is a concept that arises in the law of torts in a number of circumstances, indicating that a party will be held liable for injuries caused to another, where the party had the opportunity to warn the other of a hazard and failed to do so.

Justice

the legal process and the imposition of proportionate punishment. It is the impartial and fair settlement of conflict. Justice means to be fair by giving equally to others and to treat other justly. Practioners have a responsibility to provide appropriate services to al clients.

Evidence Based Practice

Applying the best available research results (evidence) when making decisions about health care. Health care professionals who perform evidence-based practice use research evidence along with clinical expertise and patient preferences

Confidentiality and Privacy

Confidentiality pertains to the treatment of information that an individual has disclosed in a relationship of trust and with the expectation that it will not be divulged to others without permissions in ways that are inconsistent with the understanding of the original disclosure.

HIPAA

HIPAA stands for the United States Health Insurance Portability Act. It was issued in 1996. There are two sections of the act. Together they put standards on how information is stored and given out.

Human Rights and Dignity

RIGHTS: human rights are rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. APA's vision statement includes serving as an effective champion of the application of psychology to promote human rights. DIGNITY: An individual or group's sense of self-respect and self-worth, physical and psychological integrity and empowerment.

Profession

a group of people with esoteric knowledge. This group can accept or reject members and holds the accepted members to particular standards.

Competence

an ethical obligation that provides a major link between ethics and self care. It is an ongoing process which includes continued education and an intentional effort to maintain knowledge about the updates concerning ethical guidelines.

Malpractice

an immoral, illegal, or unethical professional conduct or neglect of professional duty. Any instance of improper professional conduct.

Informed Consent

is a legal and ethical term defined as the consent by a client to a proposed mental health or psychotherapeutic procedure, or for participation in a research project or clinical study.

Burnout

is a psychological term that refers to long-term exhaustion and diminished interest in work. Burnout has been assumed to result from chronic occupational stress (e.g. work overload).

Multiple Relationships

is a situation where multiple roles exist between a therapist and a client. Multiple relationships might exist when a professional and personal relationship take place simultaneously between the psychologist and the client, the psychologist has a relationship with a person closely related to or connected to their client, the psychologist has intentions to enter into a future relationship with the client or someone closely related to the client.

Beneficence and Non-Maleficence

is an action that is done for the benefit of others. Beneficent actions can be taken to help prevent or remove harm or simply to improve a situation. It is a counselor's duty to 'do no harm' to their clients.

Supervision

is an integral part of professional training and is one of the ways which you acquire the competence needed to fulfill professional responsibilities. Provides a forum for examining beliefs, attitudes, personality characteristics, and behaviors as they affect your clients and the therapeutic process.

Countertransference

is defined as redirection of a psychotherapist's feelings toward a client, or, more generally, as a therapist's emotional entanglement with a client.

Diversity

it encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing individual differences. These can be along the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies

Multicultural Competence

may be defined as a set of congruent behaviors, attitudes, and policies that come together in a system, agency, or among professionals and enables that system, agency or those professionals to work effectively in multiple cross-cultural situations.

Boundary Violations

occur when therapists cross the line of decency and violate or exploit their clients.

Conflict of Interest

occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests, one of which could possibly corrupt their motivation to act appropriately or professionally for the other party and cause them to act in their own interests. The presence of a conflict of interest is independent from the execution of impropriety. Therefore, a conflict of interest can be discovered and voluntarily defused before any corruption of the therapeutic relationship occurs.

Boundary Crossing

often involve clinically effective interventions, such as self-disclosure, home visit, non-sexual touch, gifts or bartering.

Values

pertains to a belief and attitudes that provide direction to everyday living. values come from the individual ideals, history, and culture of the counselor. Values impact the therapist as well as the client within a counseling setting. It is the counselor's duty to keep their own personal values out of the counseling session. Instead, a therapist should focus on the client's values and how they should impact therapy.

Sexual Harassment

sexual harassment (i.e. in a counseling session) or other professional situations, involving the making of unwanted sexual advances or obscene remarks.