Module 4: Ethics in Clinical Psychology collegiality and allows for fairer

disciplinary procedures.
A. DEFINING PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND  Others dealing with the profession, as
CODES OF CONDUCT the profession will be seen as more
reliable and easier to deal with.
 PROFESSIONAL ETHICS are principles that
govern the behavior of a person or group in an B. PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF THE
environment. Like values, professional ethics PHILIPPINES – CODE OF ETHICS (2017): set
provide rules on how a person should act of principles that influence judgments
towards other people and institutions in such an
environment. A. ETHICAL PRINCIPLES FOR
 ETHICAL PRINCIPLES underpin all PSYCHOLOGISTS AND
professional codes of conduct; they differ PSYCHOMETRICIANS
depending on the profession but there are still
UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES. I. RESPECT FOR THE DIGNITY OF
PERSONS AND PEOPLES
o UNIVERSAL ETHICAL PRINCIPLES
 Honesty  The MOST FUNDAMENTAL and
 Trustworthiness UNIVERSALLY RECOGNIZED
 Loyalty ETHICAL PRINCIPLE that cuts
 Respect for Others across geographical and cultural
 Adherence to the Law boundaries, and professional
 Doing Good and Avoiding Harm to disciplines.
Others  Recognize the inherent worth of all
 Accountability. human beings, regardless of perceived
or real differences in social status,
 CODES OF CONDUCT: a set of guidelines ethnic origin, gender, capacities, or
that influence the actions other such characteristics.
o Draw on professional ethical principles as  Respect for:
the basis for prescribing required standards o Uniqueness and diversity regardless
of behavior for members of a profession. of perceived or real differences
o They seek to set out the expectations that the o Customs and beliefs (except when
profession and society have of its members. customs and beliefs contravene
o It provides guidelines for the minimum respect for dignity of persons or
standard of appropriate behavior in a causes harm)
professional context. o Free and informed consent, as
o They sit alongside the general law of the culturally defined and relevant for
land and the personal values of members of individuals, families, groups, and
the profession. communities
o Provide benefits to: o Privacy of individuals, families,
 The public, as they build confidence in groups, and communities
the trustworthiness of the profession. o Protection of confidentiality of
 The clients, as they provide greater personal information of individuals.
transparency and certainty about how Families, groups, and communities
their affairs will be handled. o Fairness and justice in the treatment
 Members of the profession, as they of persons and people.
provide a supporting framework for
resisting pressure to act inappropriately, II. COMPETENT CARING FOR THE
and for making acceptable decisions in WELL-BEING OF PERSONS AND
what may be “grey areas”. PEOPLES
 The profession as a whole, as they  Working for the benefit and above all,
provide a common understanding of of doing no harm to them.
acceptable practice which builds

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  Maximizing benefits, minimizing  Integrity entails:
potential harm, and offsetting or o Honesty, and truthful, open, and
correcting harm. accurate communication
 Competent Caring: Application of o Avoiding incomplete disclosure of
knowledge and skills that are information unless complete
appropriate to the nature of a situation disclosure is culturally
within the social and cultural context. inappropriate or violates
 Establish interpersonal relationships confidentiality or carries the
that enhance potential benefits and potential to do serious harm to
reduce potential harm individuals, families, groups, and
 Adequate self-knowledge of how one’s communities
values, experiences, culture, and social o Maximizing impartiality and
context might influence one’s actions minimizing biases
and interpretations. o Not exploiting persons or peoples
 Competent caring thru: for personal, professional, or
o Active concern for the well-being financial gain
of individuals, families, groups, and o Avoiding conflicts of interest and
communities declaring them when they cannot
o Ensuring that no harm is done to be avoided or are inappropriate to
individuals, families, groups, and avoid.
communities
o Maximizing benefits and IV. PROFESSIONAL AND SCIENTIFIC
minimizing potential harm to RESPONSIBILITIES TO SOCIETY
individuals, families, groups, and  Psychology as a profession has the
communities responsibility to contribute knowledge
o Correcting or offsetting harmful about human behavior and to the
effects that have occurred as a persons’ understanding of themselves
result of their activities and others and using such knowledge to
o Developing and maintaining improve the condition of individuals,
competence families, groups, and communities.
o Self-knowledge regarding how  The discipline has the responsibility
their own values, attitudes, to:
experiences, and social contexts o Increase scientific and professional
influence their actions, knowledge to promote well-being
interpretations, choices, and of society and all its members
recommendations o Use psychological knowledge for
o Respect for the ability of beneficial purposes and to protect
individuals, families, groups, and such knowledge from being
communities to make decisions for misused, used incompetently, or
themselves and to care for made useless
themselves and each other. o Conduct its affairs in ways that are
ethical and consistent with the
III. INTEGRITY promotion of the well-being of
 Vital to the advancement of scientific society and all its members
knowledge and to the maintenance of o Promote the highest ethical ideals
public confidence in the discipline of in the scientific, professional, and
psychology. educational activities of its
 Based on honesty, and on truthful, open, members
and accurate communication; includes o Adequately train its members in
recognizing, monitoring, and managing their ethical responsibilities and
potential biases, multiple relationships, required competencies
and other conflicts of interest that could o Develop its ethical awareness and
result in harm and exploitation of sensitivity and to be as self-
persons or peoples. correcting as possible
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 relationship or in cases where the client
B. GENERAL ETHICAL STANDRARDS AND is a minor or is legally incapable of
PROCEDURES giving informed consent.
1. Resolving ethical issues o Professionals shall explain explicitly to
2. Standards of professional competence the client all anticipated uses of the
3. Human relations information they will disclose.
4. Confidentiality o Release information to appropriate
5. Advertisement and public statements individuals or authorities only after
6. Records and fees careful deliberation or when there is
imminent danger to the individual and
C. COMPETENCIES community. In court cases, information
should be limited only to those pertinent
 Boundaries of Competencies to the legitimate request of the course.
o Based on education, training, supervised o If the psychological services,
internship, consultation, study, or information, or products is coursed
professional experience. through an electronic transmission, it is
o Make appropriate referrals where their the duty of the psychology practitioners
existing competencies are not sufficient to inform the clients of the risks to
to ensure effective implementation of privacy.
provision of their services.
o Provide service for which they do not  Recording
have existing competencies with closely o Obtain permission from clients or legal
related prior training or experience and representatives before recording the
a reasonable effort to obtain the voices or images of the clients and
competencies required by undergoing explain all anticipated uses of the
relevant research, training, consultation, recordings.
or thorough study.
o Take reasonable steps to protect their  Minimizing Invasions of Privacy
clients when requested to make o In conducting consultations with
available their services. colleagues or make written and oral
reports, the professional should only
 Providing services in emergencies reveal information that is relevant to the
 Maintaining competence consultation.
 Bases for scientific and professional o Psychology practitioners shall discuss
judgments confidential information they obtained
 Delegation of work to others in the course of their work for
 Personal problems and conflicts appropriate educational, scientific,
medical, and professional purposes such
D. CONFIDENTIALITY as research, intervention, and case
consultations.
 Maintaining Confidentiality
o Safeguard any information divulged by  Disclosures
the clients, regardless of the medium o Professionals should take reasonable
where it was stored. steps to ensure that information to be
o The professional has the duty to make disclosed will not be misused,
sure that this information is secured and misunderstood, or misinterpreted to
is not placed in areas, spaces, or infringe on human rights, whether
computers easily accessible to other intentionally or unintentionally.
unqualified persons. o Disclose confidential information only
when the client or legal representative
 Limitations of Confidentiality gave their consent unless it is prohibited
o Limitations of confidentiality may be by law.
due to regulated laws, institutional o Disclose confidential information only
rules, or professional or scientific with a written permission from the
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 client, with knowledge as to the nature and anticipated course of therapy, fees,
of information that will be disclosed and involvement of third parties, and
to whom it will be provided. limits of confidentiality and provide
o Disclose information with consent of sufficient opportunity for the client/
the client or legal representative only patient to ask questions and receive
when it is mandated by law or permitted answers.
by law for valid purposes. o Professionals should be able to give the
o When confidential information needs to client opportunities to ask questions and
be shared with schools, organizations, receive answers and it is the chance to
social agencies, or industry. begin to establish a collaborative
o Information gathered from school, relationship with the client.
hospital, office, or organization
becomes part of the institution where it D. ETHICAL DECISION MAKING (Fisher,
was obtained. 2017)
 Prior to any ethical dilemma arising, make a
 Duty to Warn commitment to doing what is ethically
o Born from the Tarasoff Case appropriate.
o Clinical psychologists have understood  Become familiar with the Psychological
that there are limits to their Association of the Philippines Code of
confidentiality agreements with clients Ethics.
and that they have a duty to warn people  Consult any law or professional guidelines
toward whom their clients make relevant to the situation at hand.
credible, serious threats.  Try to understand the perspectives of
various parties affected by the actions you
C. INFORMED CONSENT may take. Consult with supervisors,
 Right to know what to expect colleagues, etc. for additional input and
 Ensures the person with whom the discussion.
psychologist is working the opportunity to  Generate and evaluate your alternatives.
become knowledgeable about the activities  Select and implement the course of action
in which they may participate, and it that seems most ethically appropriate.
facilitates an educated decision and refuse to  Monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of
consent if they so choose. course of action.
 Modify and continue to evaluate the ethical
 IN RESEARCH: plan, as necessary.
o Psychologists should inform
prospective participants about numerous E. BOUNDARIES AND MULTIPLE
aspects of the study, including its RELATIONSHIPS
purpose, procedures, and length of
time it may require; any predictable  MULTIPLE RELATIONSHIPS
risks or adverse effects; incentives for o The client as the psychologists’ friend,
participation; and the right to decline business partner, family member,
or withdraw from participation. acquaintance, etc.
o Occurs when a psychologist is in a
 IN ASSESSMENT: professional role with a person and:
o Professionals should offer information  At the same time is in another role
about the nature and purpose of the with the same person
assessment; any relevant fees; the  At the same time is in a relationship
involvement of other parties, if any; with a person closely associated
and limits of confidentiality. with or related to the person with
whom the psychologist has the
 IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: professional relationship
o Professionals should inform clients/  Promises to enter into another
patients as early as is feasible in the relationship in the future with the
therapeutic relationship about the nature person or a person closely

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 associated with or related to the o Essential to inform participants before
person. they consent to the study that some of
o A professional refrain from entering them may not receive the treatment
into a multiple relationship if the being studied or any treatment at all.
multiple relationship could reasonably
be expected to impair the psychologist’s H. CONTEMPORARY ETHICAL ISSUES
objectivity, competence, or
effectiveness in performing his or her a. TECHNOLOGY AND ETHICS
functions as a psychologist, or
otherwise risks exploitation or harm to  Online (Open-Source) Psychological
the person with whom the professional Tests
relationship exists. o Questionable validity or reliability,
and the feedback they provide may
F. ETHICS IN CLINICAL ASSESSMENT be inaccurate and distressing to
clients.
 Test Selection
o Professional’s competence  Online Therapy Practices
o Client’s culture, language, and age o Concerns about confidentiality and
o Test reliability and validity client identity that does not exist
when the clinical psychologist
 Test Construction works with the client in person.
o Establish adequate reliability and
validity b. ETHICS IN SMALL
o Minimize test bias COMMUNITIES
o Accompany the test with a coherent,
user-friendly test manual  Rural areas and small towns or
even within large cities,
 Test Security professionals can find themselves
o Professionals should make the efforts to living and working in small
protect the security and integrity of the communities defined by ethnicity,
test materials they use. religion, or sexual orientation, or on
military bases, at small colleges, or
 Test Data in similar settings.
o Raw data the client provided during the
 Multiple relationships are perhaps
assessment – responses, answers, and
the most distinctively difficult
other notes the psychologists may have
ethical issue for clinical
made.
psychologists in small
o Release the data to clients on request
communities. Those working in
unless there is reason to believe that the
small communities may not be able
data will be misused or will harm the
to live in one population and
client.
practice in another, so keeping
personal and professional aspects
G. ETHICS IN CLINICAL RESEARCH
of their lives entirely separate may
prove impossible.
 Minimize harm to participants, steer clear of
plagiarism, and avoid fabrication of data,
among other things.

 EFFICACY OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
o Conduct the therapy in question with
one group of participants, whereas a
second group does not receive this
therapy.

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