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8.0 INTRODUCTION
8.1
a) What is the difference between ethics, morality and law?
b) Give examples of situations in daily life where ‘it is legal but
ethical’
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Chapter 8: Ethical Issues in Counselling
Confidentiality
Confidentiality Requirement: Counsellors must keep information related to
counselling services confidential unless disclosure is in the best interest of clients,
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Chapter 8: Ethical Issues in Counselling
Professional Responsibility
Boundaries of Competence: Counsellors must practice only within the boundaries
of their competence.
Continuing Education: Counsellors must engage in continuing education to
maintain their professional competence.
Impairment of Professionals: Counsellors must refrain from offering professional
services when their personal problems or conflicts may cause harm to a client or
others.
[source: adaptation of the ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. 2005
http://www.counseling.org/Files/FD.ashx?guid=cf94c260-c96a-4c63-9f52-309547d60d0]
8.2
a .Do you think the list of ethical guidelines for the counselling
profession are adequate?
b. What other guidelines would you suggest?
The ethical guidelines discussed earlier are based on five moral principles,
namely; autonomy, justice, beneficence, nonmaleficence, and fidelity. (Kitchener 1984).
Though you may not have come across some of these words, they are useful for a
counsellor to apply these five moral principles when addressing issues that are not clear
cut (see Figure 8.1)
AUTONOMY NONMALEFICENCE
MORAL PRINCIPLES
to make their own decisions and to act on their own values. There are two important
considerations in encouraging clients to be autonomous.
First, helping the client to understand how their decisions and their values
may or may not be received within the context of the society in which they
live, and how they may impinge on the rights of others.
The second consideration is related to the client's ability to make sound and
rational decisions. Persons not capable of making competent choices (such as
children, and some individuals with mental handicaps), should not be allowed
to act on decisions that could harm themselves or others.
4. JUSTICE does not mean treating all individuals the same. Kitchener (1984) points
out that the formal meaning of justice is "treating equals equally and unequals
unequally but in proportion to their relevant differences" (p.49). If an individual is to
be treated differently, the counselor needs to be able to offer a rationale that explains
the necessity and appropriateness of treating this individual differently.
When exploring an ethical dilemma, you need to examine the situation and see how each
of the above principles may relate to that particular case. At times this alone will clarify
the issues enough that the means for resolving the dilemma will become obvious to you.
In more complicated cases it is helpful to be able to work through the steps of an ethical
decision making model, and to assess which of these moral principles may be in conflict.
8.1
a) What do you understand by autonomy, nonmaleficence,
beneficence, justice and fidelity?
b) How are these principle useful in deciding about making an
ethical decision in counselling?
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Chapter 8: Ethical Issues in Counselling
Introduction
At some point in the practice of counselling, the counsellor will be faced with the
situation where he or she will have to apply the code of ethics of the profession. There are
not ready-made answers and professional organisations may not be much of a help.
Professional organisations only provide broad guidelines for responsible practice and not
solutions for specific cases. So, the counsellor will be left with the task of making a
decision involving some ethical issue. Determining the appropriate course to take when
faced with a difficult ethical dilemma can be a challenge. In the United States, the
American Counselling Association (ACA) in meeting this challenge has developed A
Practitioner's Guide to Ethical Decision Making. The intent of this document is to offer
professional counsellors a framework for sound ethical decision making. The guiding
principles proposed are useful to any counsellor (even in Malaysia) involved in ethical
decision making, a model that professionals can utilise as they address ethical questions
in their work.
5. Consider the potential consequences of all options and determine a course of action
Considering the information you have gathered and the priorities you have set, evaluate
each option and assess the potential consequences for all the parties involved. Ponder the
implications of each course of action for the client, for others who will be affected, and
for yourself as a counsellor. Eliminate the options that clearly do not give the desired
results or cause even more problematic consequences. Review the remaining options to
determine which option or combination of options best fits the situation and addresses the
priorities you have identified.
For the test of publicity, ask yourself whether you would want your behaviour
reported in the press.
The test of universality asks you to assess whether you could recommend the
same course of action to another counsellor in the same situation.
If you can answer in the affirmative to each of the questions suggested by Stadler (thus
passing the tests of justice, publicity, and universality) and you
are satisfied that you have selected an appropriate course of
action, then you are ready to move on to implementation.
being sexually abused in the home, may have to break confidentiality to protect the client
from further harm. The following are circumstances in which counsellors may break
confidentiality:
When the counsellor believes that a client (a student) is the victim of incest,
rape, child abuse or some other crime
When the counsellor determines that the client needs hospitalisation
When the information is made an issue in a court action
When clients request that their records be realised to themselves or a third party.
8.6 SUMMARY
Ethics are normative in nature and focus on principles and standards that
govern relationships between individuals, such as those between counsellor
and clients.
Morality, involves judgement or evaluation of action. It is associated with
words such as good, bad, right, wrong, ought and should.
Law is the precise description of governing standards that are established to
ensure legal and moral justice.
Most countries have developed ethical guidelines to regulate the counselling
profession. In most cases, the institution responsible for drawing up these
guidelines is the national counselling association.
Some general guidelines governing the practice of counselling:
o The counselling relationship
o Confidentiality
o Professional responsibility
o Assessment and interpretation
o Research and publication
o Resolving ethical issues
At some point in the practice of counselling, the counsellor will be faced with
the situation where he or she will have to apply the code of ethics of the
profession.
Ethical Decision Making Model: It offers professional counsellors a
framework for sound ethical decision making.
Confidentiality is central to the counselling process. No counselling session
can take place unless clients trust in the privacy of the relationship with the
counsellor.
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Chapter 8: Ethical Issues in Counselling
There are times when confidential information must be divulged, and there are
many instances in which whether to keep or to break confidentiality becomes
a cloudy issue.
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