Self-assessment in clinical health psychology: a model for ethical expansion of practice

Society expects autonomous professions to ensure the competency of it practitioners, and professions should facilitate the continuing education and training of its members. Given the shift from psychology as a mental health profession to that of a health profession, the authors propose a self-assessment model for the individual practitioner to gauge his or her readiness to provide professional service in expanded areas of practice. This model could also be useful to the American Psychological Association, state psychological associations, and other purveyors of continuing education programs in systematically developing postgraduate experiences. A template for self-assessment that reflects well-accepted core domains of knowledge and skills is presented.     

The practice of psychology in rural communities: potential ethical dilemmas

The practice of psychology in rural areas offers unique challenges for psychologists as they try to provide optimal care, often with a minimum of resources. Psychologists are frequently required to be creative and flexible in order to provide effective services to a wide range of clients. However, these unique challenges often confront psychologists with ethical dilemmas and problems for which their urban-based training has not prepared them. The author examines how certain characteristics of rural communities may lead to specific ethical dilemmas. By being a part of a small community, psychologists will inevitably face multiple relationship dilemmas. Confidentiality is harder to maintain in a small town, particularly with its informal information-sharing network. To provide services to meet community needs, with a limited number of referral options, psychologists typically need to be generalists. This may lead to concerns about scope of practice, training, and experience with diverse populations. Psychologists also face other competency issues, such as a lack of supervision and consultation resources. Other concerns addressed include the psychologist's personal life, and the blurring of professional and personal roles. Suggestions are made for coping with each of these ethical issues, although more quantitative research and discussion are needed on the practice of psychology in rural areas.     

The perception of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice

The empirical diagnosis presented in this paper is based on interviews with nurse practitioners and physicians designed to elicit their perceptions on the nature and role of ethical dilemmas in clinical practice. Having selected five of these perceptions or views which were common and significant, the philosophical therapy offered consists in, first, a general discussion of ethical dilemmas and, second, a critical analysis of each of the five views with the aim of pointing out confusions and errors, the recognition of which can be of applied and practical help in the clinical setting.     

Moral judgments and ethical constructs in clinical psychology doctoral students

ABSTRACT

This cross-sectional study compared the moral reasoning of first-year and third-year doctoral students in clinical psychology. Nineteen first-year and 20 third-year students were recruited from 17 doctoral training programs in the UK. Most adopted a sophisticated approach to moral judgments, as assessed by the Defining Issues Test, although, surprisingly, more experienced students had significantly less sophisticated schemata. In their moral judgments, less experienced students relied more heavily on their personal, and more experienced students on their professional, constructs, as assessed by repertory grid technique. Integration between personal and professional constructs was higher in more experienced students.     

Twenty-first century ethical challenges for psychology

Foreseeable social and technological changes will force us to reevaluate our thinking about ethically appropriate ways to fulfill our mission of using psychology to advance human health and welfare in the twenty-first century. Three categories of challenge related to societal and technological changes have become particularly evident. First, increasing patterns of delivering services over substantial distances by electronic means (i.e., telepsychology) demand consideration. Second, we must parse our ethical obligations to individuals, to groups, and to society at large as our influence working behind the scenes as "invisible" psychologists grows. Finally, as we witness the accelerating demise of psychiatry, we must take care not to follow a similar path. As we face new ethical challenges, we must continually ask ourselves where our responsibilities lie as individuals and as a profession. We must learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past and focus instead on optimizing the future for a science and practice of psychology focused on human health and welfare.     

The nature of psychology: the great dilemmas

Research about the nature of psychology, its subject matter, its level of analysis, its scientific laws, its relationship with other disciplines, and its social relevance has been a matter of great concern and interest during the development of psychology. This problem can be analyzed in terms of the dilemmas of the psychological discipline, which have been choice points, crossroads, alternative decisions that bring psychologists face to face with the following issues: (a) the subject matter of psychology: psyche, mind, or behavior?; (b) the role of scientific methodology: is psychology a natural science, a social/behavioral/human science, or a part of the humanities?; (c) the universality or particularity of scientific laws in psychology: are laws universal or culture-bound and contextual?; and (d) the balance between science and profession: is psychology a basic science, a socially relevant profession, or both?     

The psychology of social dilemmas: A review

Broadly defined, social dilemmas involve a conflict between immediate self-interest and longer-term collective interests. These are challenging situations because acting in one’s immediate self-interest is tempting to everyone involved, even though everybody benefits from acting in the longer-term collective interest. As such, greater knowledge of social dilemmas should help us understand not only the theoretical puzzles of why people cooperate (or not) but also the ways in which cooperation in groups and organizations can be maintained or promoted. This article reviews different types of social dilemmas, highlights recent developments in the field (especially within psychology), and suggests some new avenues for future research. We illustrate that the field of social dilemma is growing and flourishing in terms of theory, interdisciplinary collaboration, and applicability, producing insights that are novel, replicable, and applicable to many social situations where short-term self-interest is at odds with the long-term interests of teams, organizations, or nations.     

Closing the gaps: developmental psychopathology as a training model for clinical child psychology

Espouses developmental psychopathology as a framework for training our future leaders due to its emphasis on an ecological, transactional lifespan perspective, as well as interdisciplinary bridging and policy focus. This perspective, used as a framework for questioning and thinking about the complex interplay of psychological and social phenomena, provides a method for closing the gaps in training future psychologists as it allows for the development of niche expertise under an umbrella of the broader, ecological perspective. In an increasingly complex world of shrinking mental health dollars and growing severity of mental health problems for families and youth, clinical psychologists are needed more than ever to solve social problems. The current training paradigms in clinical child psychology programs need redirection and clarification for future psychologists to contribute meaningfully to science, practice, and policy. This article provides background in the history and influence of the developmental psychopathology perspective, as well as future implications for doctoral training programs in clinical psychology.     

Some ethical dilemmas in counselling and counselling research

This paper raises a number of dilemmas in relation to the ethical practice of counselling, counsellor training and research and evaluation of counselling which reflect the author's increasing concerns about therapeutic ethics. A number of relevant issues are explored to develop awareness and understanding of ethical matters, though this is in the spirit of exploration and inquiry rather than having definitive answers to offer. These issues include: use of training videos of therapists with real clients; informed consent; how research and evaluation changes the therapeutic process; how sensitive and ongoing consent for counselling and counselling research could be best obtained; publication of research in ways that respect the research participant; and the value and implications of the new British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy ethical framework. Finally, the concept of 'ethical mindfulness' is considered as a creative, if demanding, response to a concern to be ethical in research and practice.     

Integrating sport psychology and sports medicine in research: The dilemmas

Abstract

The recent acceleration of interest in conducting sport psychology research within sports medicine settings has prompted an introspection on the stringency of sport injury-focused research protocols and methodology. Much of the literature relating to the psychology of sport injury is anecdotal, comprised of conjecture, or is an extrapolation from allied psychological study. In addition, retrospective studies, involving the recall of an unpleasant event (i.e., sport injury) proliferate the literature. Quality research that integrates sport psychology and sports medicine presents a unique challenge because of the multifactorial nature of sport injury and the necessity for sound interpretation of research outcomes relative to the nature of psychology. sport, and injury. Confounding and complicating aspects of this integrated research include definition of injury variables, timing of data collection. evaluation of pain. and the physiological sequelae of injury. Research and methodological issues relating to sport psychology and sport injury are discussed.     

Health psychology and clinical psychology: a comparison through content analysis.

Extension of a previous analysis of articles published in two journals representative of health psychology and two in health education showed some similarities and differences. The present analysis of 100 papers from two journals in health psychology and 495 from two in clinical psychology clearly shows health as a subspecialty of clinical psychology.     

Toward a hermeneutic model of ethical decision making in clinical practice

Documented ethical violations and empirical research have demonstrated that, despite professional standards and formal training in ethical principles, some psychotherapists engage in unethical behaviors that compromise the welfare of clients. It appears that competing values and interests that emerge in the therapeutic endeavor can interfere with therapists' considerations of ethical standards and their willingness to act ethically. Expanding current models of ethical decision making, this article offers a hermeneutic model that recognizes that in addition to moral reasoning, the context of the therapeutic relationship and the therapist's subjective responses are fundamental considerations in the interpretation and application of ethical interventions. Implications for understanding and training of ethics in psychotherapy in this broader context are explored.     

Sport psychology service delivery: staying ethical while keeping loose

Although the parent discipline of sport psychology is psychology, the delivery of sport psychology services has its main roots in physical education and sports science (motor learning and control, skill acquisition). Thus, sport psychologists may look more like coaches than they look like clinicians or counselors. In this article, the authors trace the evolution of sport psychology services and contrast the temporal, spatial, and delivery issues of applied sport psychology with more mainstream counseling and clinical psychology. The looser boundaries of sport psychologist practice have both benefits and dangers, and the authors offer some examples to professional psychologists who are thinking of expanding their delivery of service to athletes and coaches.     

Counselling in the Post Office: Facing up to the legal and ethical dilemmas

The legal and ethical dilemmas faced by counsellors working in organisations are outlined, together with the need for the counselling profession to set clear competency and supervision standards for practitioners.