PSY 650 Week 2 Reply To Ericka Rosales Discussion Post Setting Boundaries When Working with Clients
In your responses, evaluate the recommendations suggested by your peer. State whether you agree or disagree with your peer’s recommendation to the doctor on how to proceed. Suggest other ethical implications your peer may not have considered in this case. What follow-up questions might you ask your peer to aid in the ethical assessment of the case? In addition to the suggestions provided by your peer, what recommendations might you make to the doctor so that he or she might avoid these types of dilemmas in the future? What additions or changes might you make to the policy or policies suggested by your peer? (SEE ERICKA ROSALES POST BELOW)
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Erika Rosales Post
Setting Boundaries When Working with Clients
When assuming the role of a colleague to the doctor named, there are a variety of concerns I have towards the situation in question. When analyzing the ethical issues encountered in the case, one may consider there an issue with searching for information on the internet yet the individuals themselves have placed that information there knowing that it will be available for individuals to access. Given the situation described in the case study, I recommend my colleague should proceed with caution as to not come across any information that will harm the patient-client relationship, not to mention the current position of the client in question. As mentioned by Taylor (2010), “psychologists must take reasonable actions to avoid foreseeable problems with online information, and they must be prepared to do damage control after clients seek their information through the Internet” (pg158). Considering that there are not any guidelines in place for social media website profiling, staying open minded and willing to continue helping are key features when treading in an area where you are already uncertain. When considering the current and potential actions of my colleague and explaining whether she is currently, or potentially will be, in violation of the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, she has a right to be concerned given the situation and is allowed to review the information that is available via the internet so long as it does not harm the client/patient. My colleague might avoid this type of ethical dilemma in the future by choosing to work with individuals whom she does not feel the need to go behind their back to find out information about them because she is concerned about her safety.
Policies I might put in place if I were my colleague would be for someone else to review social media profiles to gather any additional needed information as to not create a bias towards the client or simply ask whether they would be okay with a review of their social media profiles or websites. As mentioned by Asay (2014), “finally, it bears mentioning that as society is in the midst of significant and potentially revolutionary changes to the way people see and understand social interaction, definitions of personal and private, and ways of connecting with others, it is natural that the art and science of psychotherapy struggle with how to understand these changes” (pg110). when examining ethical issues encountered by clinical and counseling psychologists in the digital age, one must consider the amount of information available on an individual through the use of the internet and social media accounts and websites and how one chooses to use the information that is readily accessible. In Dr. Arnold’s case, I can understand why she is unsure and resistant in examining the social profile of the client in question. She may stumble across information that she feels damaging to the relationship and therefore becomes unable to be as helpful as she could be if those barriers were not there.
American Psychological Association. (2010). Standard 3: Human relations (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx?item=6 (Links to an external site.)
Asay, P. A., & Lal, A. ( 2014). Who’s Googled whom? Trainees’ internet and online social networking experiences, behaviors, and attitudes with clients and supervisors. Training and Education in Professional Psychology 8(2), 105-111. doi: 10.1037/tep0000035
Gorenstein, E. E., & Comer, R. J. (2015). Case studies in abnormal psychology (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers. Retrieved from https://redshelf.com (Links to an external site.)
Harris, S. E., & Robinson Kurpius, S. E. (2014). Social networking and professional ethics: Client searches, informed consent, and disclosure. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 45(1), 11– 19. DOI: 10.1037/a0033478
Taylor, L., McMinn, M. R., Bufford, R. K., & Chang, K. B. T. (2010). Psychologists’ attitudes and ethical concerns regarding the use of social networking websites. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 41(2), 153– 159. doi: 10.1037/a0017996
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