Case 7

Case 7

Tips:

Hi Class,

Here are some tips for this week’s assignment:

First, be sure your name and the date is on the top of the paper, if you choose not to use a title page.

Please save the work as a Word document in the following manner: Last name first initial_ Week 4_PSY 510

Be sure to answer each part of each question separately and completely .

With regard to question # 1, According to Behnke (2005),

“An ethical dilemma arises when two or more of the values found in the Ethical Principles conflict. Resolving an ethical dilemma requires identifying the relevant values and weighing those competing values against one another to determine which receives priority” (para .4). In addition to the nature of the dilemma, be sure to identify the Principles that you believe are in conflict in this dilemma. (Remember the distinction between the Principles (A-E) and the Standards that we reviewed in earlier discussions).

For Question# 2, about stakeholders, THINK BIG, and remember to include the main character(s) PLUS  any other persons or entities that may have a stake in the outcome.

For the remainder of the questions, cite specific ethical Standards to support your conclusions.

For Question # 4, review Fisher, and APA Standard 7, with regard to ethics involved with educational roles.

Note that in Question # 7, two Hot Topics “Ethical Supervision of Trainees” (Chapter 10) and “Multicultural Ethical Competence” (Chapter 5) should be discussed, and additional standards are required to be addressed. Consider aspects of Standards 2 & 3.

For Q # 8, review the ethical theories in the textbook (Ch. 3, pp. 36-42).

For Q # 9, review the six steps of ethical decision making in the textbook (p. 46, 47).

Since there is no rubric for this week’s assignment, here is a scoring guide:

There are 9 questions.

Q’s # 1, 3-6, 8, and 9 are worth up to 6 points each.

Q 2 is worth up to 8 points.

Q # 7 is worth up to 10 points.

The total will be equal to a percentage, where 60 points =100 %.

Best regards,

Behnke S., Ph.D. (2005). On being an ethical psychologist. Monitor on Psychology 36(7) 114. Retrieved from: http://www.apa.org/monitor/julaug05/ethics.aspx

Cite and reference academic sources according to APA 6th edition guidelines.

PSY-510 Contemporary and Ethical Issues in Psychology

Handling Disparate Information

Directions: In a minimum of 50 words, for each question, thoroughly answer each of the questions below regarding Case 7: Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees. Use one to two scholarly resources to support your answers. Use in-text citations when appropriate, according to APA formatting.

1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?

2. Who are the stakeholders and how will they be affected by how Dr. Vaji resolves this dilemma?

3. What additional information might Dr. Vaji collect to provide him with a more accurate picture of Leo’s multicultural attitudes and professional skills? What are the reasons for and against contacting Leo’s supervisor for more information? Should he request that Leo’s sessions with clients be electronically recorded or observed?

4. Is Dr. Vaji in a potentially unethical multiple relationship as both Leo’s externship supervisor and his teacher in the Health Disparate class? Why or why not?

5. To what extent, if any, should Dr. Vaji consider Leo’s own ethnicity in his deliberations? Would the dilemma be addressed differently if Leo self-identified as non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic black?

6. Once the dilemma is resolved, should Dr. Vaji have a follow-up meeting with the students who complained?

7. How are APA Ethical Standards 1.08, 3.04, 3.05, 3.09, 7.04, 7.05, and 7.06 and the Hot Topics “Ethical Supervision of Trainees” (Chapter 10) and “Multicultural Ethical Competence” (Chapter 5) relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?

8. What are Dr. Vaji’s ethical alternatives for resolving this dilemma? Which alternatives best reflects the Ethics Code aspirational principles and enforceable standards, legal standards, and obligations to stakeholders? Can you identify the ethical theory (discussed in Chapter 3) guiding your decision?

9. What steps should Dr. Vaji take to implement his decision and monitor its effect?

References:

Read Case 7: Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees on pages 440-441 in your textbook. Once you have read the case study completely, answer the discussion questions found in the attached document “Case 7” under the assignment tab.

While APA format is not required for the body of this assignment, solid academic writing is expected, and documentation of sources should be presented using APA formatting guidelines, which can be found in the APA Style Guide,

Case 7. Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees

Rashid Vaji, PhD, a member of the school psychology faculty at a midsize university, serves as a faculty supervisor for students assigned to externships in schools. The department has formalized a supervision and evaluation system for the extern program. Students have weekly individual meetings with the faculty supervisor and biweekly meetings with the on-site supervisor. The on-site supervisor writes a mid-year (December) and end of academic year (May) evaluation of each student.

The site evaluations are sent to Dr. Vaji, and he provides feedback based on the site and his own supervisory evaluation to each student. The final grade (fail, low pass, pass, high pass) is the responsibility of Dr. Vaji.Dr. Vaji also teaches the spring semester graduate class Health Disparities in Mental Health. One of the course requirements is for students to write weekly thought papers, in which they take the perspective of therapy clients from different ethnic groups in reaction to specific session topics. Leo Watson, a second-year graduate student, is one of Dr. Vaji’s externship supervisees. He is also enrolled in the Health Disparities course. Leo’s thought papers often present ethnic-minority adolescents as prone to violence and unable to grasp the insights offered by school psychologists. In a classroom role-playing exercise, Leo plays an ethnic-minority student client as slumping in his chair, not understanding the psychologist, and giving angry retorts. In written comments on these thought papers and class feed-back, Dr. Vaji encourages Leo to incorporate more of the readings on racial/ethnic discrimination and multicultural competence into his papers and to provide more complex perspectives on clients. One day during his office hours, three students from the class come to Dr. Vaji’s office to complain about Leo’s behavior outside the classroom.

They describe incidents in which Leo uses derogatory ethnic labels to describe his externship clients and brags about “putting one over” on his site supervisors by describing these clients in “glowing” terms just to satisfy his supervisors’ “stupid do-good” attitudes. They also report an incident at a local bar at which Leo was seen harassing an African American waitress, including by using racial slurs.

Appendix A Case Studies for Ethical Decision Making 441After the students have left his office, Dr. Vaji reviews his midyear evaluation and supervision notes on Leo and the midyear on-site supervisor’s report. In his own evaluation report, Dr. Vaji had written, “Leo often articulates a strong sense of duty to help his ethnic minority students overcome past discrimination but needs additional growth and supervision in applying a multicultural perspective to his clinical work.” The on-site supervisor’s evaluation states that Leo has a wonderful attitude toward his student clients. Unfortunately, evaluation of his multicultural treatment skills is limited because Leo has had fewer cases to discuss than some of his peers, since a larger than usual number of ethnic minority clients have stopped coming to their sessions with him. It is the middle of the spring semester, and Dr. Vaji still has approximately 6 weeks of supervision left with Leo. The students’ complaints about Leo are consistent with what Dr. Vaji has observed in Leo’s class papers and role-playing exercises. However, these complaints are very different from Leo’s presentation during on-site supervision. If Leo has been intentionally deceiving both supervisors, then he may be more ineffective or harmful as a therapist to his current clients than either supervisor has realized. In addition, purposeful attempts to deceive the supervisors might indicate a personality disorder or lack of integrity that, if left unaddressed, might be harmful to adolescent clients in the future. Ethical Dilemma Dr. Vaji would like to meet with Leo to discuss, at a minimum, ways to retain adolescent clients and to improve his multicultural treatment skills. He does not know to what extent his conversation with Leo and final supervisory report should be influenced by the information provided by the other graduate students.

Discussion Questions1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?

2. Who are the stakeholders, and how will they be affected by how Dr. Vaji resolves this dilemma?

3. What additional information might Dr. Vaji collect to get a more accurate picture of Leo’s multicultural attitudes and professional skills? What are rea-sons for and against contacting Leo’s site supervisor for more information? Should he request that Leo’s sessions with clients be electronically taped or observed?

4. Is Dr. Vaji in a potentially unethical multiple relationship as both Leo’s externship supervisor and his teacher in the Health Disparities class. Why or why not?

440 Decoding the Ethics CodeSuggested ReadingsKielbasa, A. M., Pomerantz, A. M., Krohn, E. J., & Sullivan, B. F. (2004). How does clients’ method of payment influence psychologists’ diagnostic decisions. Ethics & Behavior, 14, 187–195.Shapiro, E. L., & Ginzberg, R. (2003). To accept or not to accept: Referrals and the maintenance of boundaries. Professional Psychology: Research & Practice, 34, 258–263.Wilcoxon, S., Magnuson, S., & Norem, K. (2008). Institutional values of managed mental health care: Efficiency or oppression? Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 36, 143–154.Woody, R. H. (2011). The financial conundrum for mental health practitioners. American Journal of Family Therapy, 39, 1–10.

Case 7. Handling Disparate Information for Evaluating Trainees Rashid Vaji, PhD, a member of the school psychology faculty at a midsize university, serves as a faculty supervisor for students assigned to externships in schools. The department has formalized a supervision and evaluation system for the extern program. Students have weekly individual meetings with the faculty supervisor and biweekly meetings with the on-site supervisor. The on-site supervisor writes a mid-year (December) and end of academic year (May) evaluation of each student. The site evaluations are sent to Dr. Vaji, and he provides feedback based on the site and his own supervisory evaluation to each student. The final grade (fail, low pass, pass, high pass) is the responsibility of Dr. Vaji. Dr. Vaji also teaches the spring semester graduate class Health Disparities in Mental Health. One of the course requirements is for students to write weekly thought papers, in which they take the perspective of therapy clients from different ethnic groups in reaction to specific session topics. Leo Watson, a second-year graduate student, is one of Dr. Vaji’s externship supervisees. He is also enrolled in the Health Disparities course. Leo’s thought papers often present ethnic-minority adolescents as prone to violence and unable to grasp the insights offered by school psychologists. In a classroom role-playing exercise, Leo plays an ethnic-minority student client as slumping in his chair, not understanding the psychologist, and giving angry retorts. In written comments on these thought papers and class feed-back, Dr. Vaji encourages Leo to incorporate more of the readings on racial/ethnic discrimination and multicultural competence into his papers and to provide more complex perspectives on clients.

One day during his office hours, three students from the class come to Dr. Vaji’s office to complain about Leo’s behavior outside the classroom. They describe inci-dents in which Leo uses derogatory ethnic labels to describe his externship clients and brags about “putting one over” on his site supervisors by describing these cli-ents in “glowing” terms just to satisfy his supervisors’ “stupid do-good” attitudes. They also report an incident at a local bar at which Leo was seen harassing an African American waitress, including by using racial slurs.

Publications, Inc. After the students have left his office, Dr. Vaji reviews his midyear evaluation and supervision notes on Leo and the midyear on-site supervisor’s report. In his own evaluation report, Dr. Vaji had written, “Leo often articulates a strong sense of duty to help his ethnic minority students overcome past discrimination but needs additional growth and supervision in applying a multicultural perspective to his clinical work.” The on-site supervisor’s evaluation states that Leo has a wonderful attitude toward his student clients. Unfortunately, evaluation of his multicultural treatment skills is limited because Leo has had fewer cases to discuss than some of his peers, since a larger than usual number of ethnic minority clients have stopped coming to their sessions with him. It is the middle of the spring semester, and Dr. Vaji still has approximately 6 weeks of supervision left with Leo. The students’ complaints about Leo are consistent with what Dr. Vaji has observed in Leo’s class papers and role-playing exercises. However, these complaints are very different from Leo’s presentation during on-site supervision. If Leo has been intentionally deceiving both supervisors, then he may be more ineffective or harmful as a therapist to his current clients than either supervisor has realized. In addition, purposeful attempts to deceive the supervisors might indicate a personality disorder or lack of integrity that, if left unaddressed, might be harmful to adolescent clients in the future. Ethical Dilemma Dr. Vaji would like to meet with Leo to discuss, at a minimum, ways to retain adolescent clients and to improve his multicultural treatment skills. He does not know to what extent his conversation with Leo and final supervisory report should be influenced by the information provided by the other graduate students.

Discussion Questions1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?

2. Who are the stakeholders, and how will they be affected by how Dr. Vaji resolves this dilemma?

3. What additional information might Dr. Vaji collect to get a more accurate picture of Leo’s multicultural attitudes and professional skills? What are rea-sons for and against contacting Leo’s site supervisor for more information? Should he request that Leo’s sessions with clients be electronically taped or observed?

4. Is Dr. Vaji in a potentially unethical multiple relationship as both Leo’s externship supervisor and his teacher in the Health Disparities class. Why or why not? 442 Decoding the Ethics Code5. To what extent, if any, should Dr. Vaji consider Leo’s own ethnicity in his deliberations? Should he address the dilemma differently if Leo self-identifies as non-Hispanic White than as Hispanic or non-Hispanic Black?

6. Once the dilemma is resolved, should Dr. Vaji have a follow-up meeting with the students who complained?

7. How are APA Ethical Standards 1.08, 3.04, 3.05, 3.09, 7.04, 7.05, and 7.06 and the Hot Topics “Ethical Supervision of Trainees in Professional Psychology Programs” (Chapter 10) and “Multicultural Ethical Competence” (Chapter 5) relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?8. What are Dr. Vaji’s ethical alternatives for resolving this dilemma? Which alternative best reflects the Ethics Code aspirational principles and enforceable standards, legal standards, and obligations to stakeholders? Can you identify the ethical theory (discussed in Chapter 3) guiding your decision?9. What steps should Dr. Vaji take to implement his decision and monitor its effect?Suggested ReadingsAllen, J. (2007).

A multicultural assessment supervision model to guide research and prac-tice. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38, 248–258.Barnett, J. E., & Molzon, C. H. (2014). Clinical supervision of psychotherapy: Essential ethics issues for supervisors and supervisees.

Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session, 70(11), 1051–1061. doi:10.1002/jclp.22126Boysen, G. A., & Vogel, D. L. (2008). The relationship between level of training, implicit bias, and multicultural competency among counselor trainees. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2, 103–110.Dailor, A. N. (2011). Ethically challenging situations reported by school psychologists: Implications for training. Psychology in the Schools, 48, 619–631.Gilfoyle, N. (2008). The legal exosystem: Risk management in addressing student competence problems in professional psychology training. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 2, 202–209.Case 8. Using Deception to Study College Students’ Willingness to Report Threats of Violence Against Female Students College drinking has become a serious public health issue that has been associated with violence against women on college campuses. Although some programs to prevent violence against women appear promising when empirically tested, most have small effect sizes and have not been replicated on other campuses. Rachel Cohen, a first-year faculty member in an applied developmental psychology pro-gram at a large research institution, was asked to join a group of other scientists in

PSY-510 Contemporary and Ethical Issues in Psychology

Handling Disparate Information

1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma? Comment by DELL: The nature of the dilemma should be explained in terms of principles in conflict. See course announcement, TIPS for Week 4 Assignment.

Dr. Vaji’s assessment on Leo should be independent of other graduate’s opinions and remarks. As a supervisor, he should grade his students based on their performance and not an external influence. On the other hand, if Dr. Vaji does not address the issues reported by the other students about Leo, he will be equally doing wrong. Principles framing the ethical dilemma include respect, competency, integrity, and responsibility (Knapp et al., 2012). Leo has not been truthful to his supervisors, and he risks doing the same being unjust to his clients in the future, lacking concern for their welfare. Dr. Vaji will lack integrity if he evaluates Leo based on other students’ remarks. Comment by DELL: The relevant principles should be identified by letter; e.g., APA Principle E: Respect for the rights and dignity of others. Comment by DELL: This has not been proven yet…. 4/6

2. Who are the stakeholders and how will they be affected by how Dr. Vaji resolves this dilemma?

The stakeholders in the ethical dilemma include Leo, his supervisors, the institution, and his current and future clients. If Dr. Vaji addresses Leo’s issues based on other students’ observations to resolve the ethical dilemma, Leo is likely to fail in the extern program. Dr. Vaji, as a supervisor, will have foregone the ethical standard of integrity. If the ethical dilemma is solved by allowing Leo’s issues go unaddressed, he is likely to pass the program. Therefore, Leo will become a practicing therapist, although, lacking competency and integrity. Dr. Vaji notes that Leo is ineffective to his clients, as evidenced by the reduced larger than a usual number of clients who have stopped going for their session with him. Comment by DELL: Good! There are additional stakeholders; this question is worth up to 8 points. See scoring guide. 6/8

3. What additional information might Dr. Vaji collect to provide him with a more accurate picture of Leo’s multicultural attitudes and professional skills? What are the reasons for and against contacting Leo’s supervisor for more information? Should he request that Leo’s sessions with clients be electronically recorded or observed?

Dr. Vaji should consult Leo’s current clients to gain more insight into Leo’s multicultural attitudes and professional skills. Dr. Vaji has noted that an unusual number of clients have ceased attending their sessions with Leo. He should consult them to ascertain if Leo’s lack of integrity is the cause. Further, Dr. Vaji should consult Leo’s on-site supervisor to confirm if truly Leo has been deceiving them. The downside of Dr. Vaji consulting the on-site supervisor is that the on-site supervisor’s reports in the future may be influenced by the revelations of Dr. Vaji. Besides consulting the on-site supervisor, Dr. Vaji can have Leo’s sessions recorded electronically for later review. It will also help in approaching Leo without involving the other students. Comment by DELL: This idea is heading down the right track…consider how, without breaking Leo’s confidentiality. Cite APA standards to support conclusions. See announcement, TIPS for Week 4 Assignment. Comment by DELL: If Leo is faking good around supervisors now, this information would not be accurate, because he and his clients would have to know they were being recorded. 4/6

4. Is Dr. Vaji in a potentially unethical multiple relationship as both Leo’s externship supervisor and his teacher in the Health Disparate class? Why or why not?

By being both Leo’s externship supervisor and lecturer in the Health Disparate class, Dr. Vaji is not in a potentially unethical multi-relationship. Being Leo’s teacher has helped him acquire more insight into Leo’s behavior by comparing his report as a lecturer and the other supervisor’s report. As the externship supervisor, Dr. Vaji would only depend on the lecturers’ reports to evaluate Leo. However, Leo appears to be deceiving his supervisors by acting differently in either’s presence to receive good grades. Leo’s harmful behavior, especially as a practicing therapist, is likely to go unaddressed if not for Dr. Vaji’s multi-relationship. Comment by DELL: Cite relevant APA standards to support your conclusions. In this case, 3.05 c would be relevant. 5/6

5. To what extent, if any, should Dr. Vaji consider Leo’s own ethnicity in his deliberations? Would the dilemma be addressed differently if Leo self-identified as non-Hispanic white, Hispanic, or non-Hispanic black? Comment by DELL: This aspect of the question was not specifically addressed in the response.

Dr. Vaji should consider Leo’s ethnicity when deliberating on the ethical dilemma. Leo has probably been brought up in a community with poor multicultural attitudes. Else, Leo might have lived in a community where his population is the ethnic minority. This insight about Leo’s ethnicity should explain his behavior and, therefore, his supervisors will know how to approach him. However, a professional therapist should not be influenced by their ethnicity (Knapp et al., 2012). Comment by DELL: These statements appear contradictory. If ethnicity should not be an influencing factor in professional behavior, why should it be considered during an internship? 2/6

6. Once the dilemma is resolved, should Dr. Vaji have a follow-up meeting with the students who complained?

Once the ethical dilemma has been solved, the other graduate students should have a follow-up meeting with Dr. Vaji as well. Leo appears to be deceiving his supervisors in class but shows his true character to other students. The meeting should only be used to assess if Leo has improved his behavior outside class and not for academic assessment. Comment by DELL: Cite relevant APA standards to support your conclusions. In this case, Dr V has an ethical responsibility to Leo, as well; Leo is also a stakeholder. 0/6

7. How are APA Ethical Standards 1.08, 3.04, 3.05, 3.09, 7.04, 7.05, and 7.06 and the Hot Topics “Ethical Supervision of Trainees” (Chapter 10) and “Multicultural Ethical Competence” (Chapter 5) relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?

The APA ethical standards are the foundations on which a competent psychology practitioner is built (Knapp et al., 2012). For this reason, the article constantly refers to these principles. The Hot Topics are to this case since they raise the issues of supervising trainees, discrimination especially of the ethnic minority, multicultural attitudes, accountability and responsibility, and professional skills. APA ethical standard 4.03, recording, could also be applicable. Dr. Vaji could have Leo’s sessions with his clients recorded for better reference and correction of his behavior. Another applicable APA ethical standard is 2.03, maintain competence, as both Leo’s supervisors have noted that he is not competent enough yet. Comment by DELL: Each of the standards in question should be addressed individually in this response. Standards differ from principles, so the statement about the Knapp article is unclear. This question is worth up to 10 points; see scoring guide and TIPS for Week 4 assignment. 3/10 Comment by DELL: See comment # 6, above.

8. What are Dr. Vaji’s ethical alternatives for resolving this dilemma? Which alternatives best reflects the Ethics Code aspirational principles and enforceable standards, legal standards, and obligations to stakeholders? Can you identify the ethical theory (discussed in Chapter 3) guiding your decision? Comment by DELL: This aspect of the question was not addressed.

The ethical alternatives that Dr. Vaji should implement include stopping Leo from role-playing and determining if Leo has a personality disorder or he lacks integrity. Leo is probably picking up his bad behavior from his role-play and advancing it to his clients. The best ethical alternative, however, is explaining the APA ethical principles as they are legal standards enforceable on all stakeholders. Comment by DELL: How is this an ethical alternative? Explain. Role play is utilized for practice and is an important component of training. How would Dr V determine if Leo has a disorder? Support conclusions by citing relevant APA standards. 2/6

9. What steps should Dr. Vaji take to implement his decision and monitor its effect? Comment by DELL: The 6 steps of ethical decision making should be cited and explained in this response. See course announcement, TIPS for Week 4 Assignment.

Dr. Vaji should organize for more ethnic minority clients to attend Leo’s sessions. This way Leo will have more cases to discuss within the remaining period. Dr. Vaji will use the increased sessions to evaluate improvement of multicultural attitudes and professional skills after their meeting. If an unusually large number of clients do not stop their sessions, then Leo will have improved. Comment by DELL: Not without ensuring that Leo is well trained; that would be ethically irresponsible. 0/6

References:

Knapp, S., Gottlieb, M. C., Handelsman, M. M., VandeCreek, L., & American Psychological Association. (2012). APA handbook of ethics in psychology: Vol. 2. Washington, D.C: American Psychological Association.

SCORING GUIDE

Q’s # 1, 3-6, 8, and 9 are worth up to 6 points each.

Q 2 is worth up to 8 points.

Q # 7 is worth up to 10 points.

The total will be equal to a percentage, where 60 points =100 %.