Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Confidentiality and
Other Ethical Issues 4
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A
n internship or practicum is often the high point of one’s under-
graduate education in psychology. My students tell me that
this is the time when their classroom learning really seems
to come together for them. In addition, learning in the field
setting helps one solidify some career decisions and rethink
others. Students report not infrequently that their practicum
or internship was a life-changing experience.
Among the most important things to learn and to consider
carefully are the ethical issues that you come across in your
fieldwork. As psychology students, you should be aware that
there is a Code of Ethics for psychologists. It is officially called
the “Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct”
(American Psychological Association [APA], 2010) and can be
accessed at http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/. This Code of Eth-
ics, which took effect in June 2003, is actually the 10th revi-
sion of the Ethics Code, which has a long history. Two of its
standards were amended in 2010.
You may wonder whether the ethical standards in the
Code are mandatory for you to uphold. The Introduction to
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/14672-004
Your Practicum in Psychology: A Guide for Maximizing Knowledge and Competence,
Second Edition, J. R. Matthews and C. E. Walker (Editors)
Copyright © 2015 by the American Psychological Association. All rights
reserved.
57
58 Elizabeth Swenson
the Code states that “this Ethics Code applies only to psychologists’ activ-
ities that are part of their scientific, educational, or professional roles
as psychologists” (Para. 2). Furthermore, it states that “membership in
the APA commits members and student affiliates to comply with the
standards of the APA Ethics Code” (Para. 3). If you are a student affili-
ate of the APA, the answer is obvious. But what if you are not a student
affiliate? The best strategy is that if you are a psychology student in a
practicum or internship class where you are supervised, either onsite
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Confidentiality
may be in order. The ethical issue here is that the supervisor will prob-
ably find out about this action, with some possible detriment to Rane’s
future career.
and discuss how it is that parents would not think that going to school is
more important than seeing a particular television program or celebrat-
ing a birthday. Gennaro does not know what to do.
Gennaro has an obligation to tell his supervisor about the pot odor.
Maybe she simply does not recognize it. Confidentiality does not pre-
clude his talking with his supervisor about his observations. It is impor-
tant for him to do so. Quite possibly the children are living in a harmful
environment. Information to keep children safe is not confidential
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information.
about the life of a college student. They both really like a certain actor,
so Rachel asks Ingrid if she’d like to come over to her house on the
weekend and they could watch his latest movie. Ingrid is not sure she
should accept the invitation but does not know why she feels this way
or what to say. Many institutions have a firm rule about no contact
being allowed outside the facility or after the course is over. This also
means no phone calls, e-mails, texts, or visits that are not strictly work
related.
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Once Ingrid has spent a social evening with Rachel at her house,
she may lose the ability to have a professional relationship with her
in the future. This is not as serious for a student as it might be for a
professional psychologist, but it is still a boundary issue. Assuming
that Ingrid has been therapeutically helpful to Rachel, this shift from
a quasi-professional to a friend could be harmful in some subtle way.
Friends are not always as accepting of each other’s behavior as psy-
chologists are of their clients’ behavior. She should tell Rachel that
she would like to come over but that she is not allowed to do so by
agency and university policy. The student should only have contact
with the patient or client in the professional setting of the practicum
and under supervision—no contact outside of this or after the practi-
cum is over.
Informed Consent
Assessment
Competence
Supervision
did not know what to do and especially did not want to run the risk of
a bad evaluation.
Fortunately, Laurel had an academic supervisor and a small group
of other practicum students to ask for advice. Two Code standards are
particularly applicable here. Standard 3.08, Exploitative Relationships,
states that psychologists may not exploit supervisees. Arguably, Laurel
is being exploited when her supervisor accepts her willingness to pay
the bill. Aside from this, he may be a lonely individual who enjoys
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Laurel’s company, even though Laurel does not enjoy his but is afraid to
say no. Is this behavior a slippery slope? Standard 7.07, Sexual Relation-
ships With Students and Supervisees, prohibits this relationship from
becoming sexual. This is also a good example of the abuse of power by
the supervisor, a clear violation again of Standard 3.05, Multiple Rela-
tionships. In addition to the ethical issues raised here, her supervisor’s
behavior may qualify as sexual harassment under federal guidelines
describing the hostile work environment.
Another important ethical principle is that supervisors have an obli-
gation with respect to prompt and appropriate feedback on a supervisee’s
performance.
The APA Ethics Code is quite specific about what to do if you discover that
a psychologist is violating the Code. Standard 1.04, Informal Resolution
of Ethical Violations, requires that if one sees any possible ethical vio-
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Conclusion
This chapter has covered some of the most frequently cited ethical
issues and dilemmas that arise in practicum and internship settings.
Other areas covered by the Code that should be of particular interest
to students are the Section 7, Education and Training, and Section 8,
Research and Publication. It is important to read the entire Code to put
them in context.
The references include two psychology ethics textbooks (Koocher &
Keith-Spiegel, 2008; Pope & Vasquez, 2011), as well as four specialized
books in research ethics (Kimmel, 2007), industrial and organizational
ethics (Lowman, 2006), forensic practice (Bush, Connell, & Denney,
2006), and cross-cultural counseling (Gerstein, Heppner, Aegisdottir,
Leung, & Norsworthy, 2009) The book by Fisher (2013) is a thorough
and critical explanation of the 2010 Amendments to the 2002 Ethics Code
written by the chair of the revision task force. The Canadian Psychological
Association Code of Ethics (2000) has some interesting similarities and
differences from the APA Code.
References
http://www.apa.org/ethics/Code/index.aspx
Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2009). Principles of biomedical ethics
(6th ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Bush, S. S., Connell, M. A., & Denney, R. L. (2006). Ethical practice
in forensic psychology. Washington, DC: American Psychological
Association.
Canadian Psychological Association. (2000). Canadian code of ethics for
psychologists (3rd ed.). Retrieved from http://www.cpa.ca/docs/File/
Ethics/cpa_code_2000_eng_jp_jan2014.pdf
Center for the Study of Ethics in the Professions. (2013). Codes of ethics
collections. Illinois Institute of Technology. Retrieved from http://ethics.
iit.edu/ecodes
Fisher, C. B. (2013). Decoding the ethics code: A practical guide for psychologists
(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gerstein, L. H., Heppner, P. P., Aegisdottir, S., Leung, S. A., & Norsworthy,
K. L. (2009). International handbook of cross-cultural counseling. Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kimmel, A. J. (2007). Ethical issues in behavioral research (2nd ed.). Malden,
MA: Blackwell.
Koocher, G., & Keith-Spiegel, P. (2008). Ethics in psychology and the mental
health professions: Standards and cases (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Oxford
University Press.
Lowman, R. L. (Ed.). (2006). The ethical practice of psychology in organiza-
tions (2nd ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/11386-000
National Association of Social Workers. (2008). Code of ethics. Washing-
ton, DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.naswdc.org/pubs/Code/
default.asp
Pope, K. S. (2013). Ethical standards & practice guidelines for assessment, therapy,
counseling, & forensic practice. Retrieved from http://www.kspope.com/
ethcodes/index.php
Pope, K. S., & Vasquez, M. T. (2011). Ethics in psychotherapy and counseling
(4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/
9781118001875
Tarasoff v. Board of Regents of the University of California, 551 P.2d 334
(Cal.Sup.Ct.1976).