Culture+Sensitive+Assessment+Ethical+Codes+&+Laws

Home - Lit Review - Ethical Codes & Laws - Professional Interview - ACA Decision Making Model - References __** Ethical Codes & Laws **__ media type="youtube" key="L7-uAGKa7l0" width="616" height="346"  The ethical implications of this particular case encompass two main areas: cultural competency and resolving ethical issues with other professionals.

1:  The [|cultural competency] is the responsibility of the clinicians who have been assigned to the case. In this particular scenario, the client is a middle aged man from a Jamaican background, and he has experienced a traumatic head injury. It is clear that he has a unique worldview that would inevitably affect the counseling experience. It is the counselor's duty to acknowledge and incorporate the client's diverse background in to the counseling session and address any resulting challenges that the client may experience. In the scenario presented, the client was given some assessments to determine his career interests. The following [|ACA codes] are relative to cultural competency and appropriate instrument selection:
 * Standard A.2.c. Developmental and Cultural Sensitivity **
 * Counselors communicate information in ways that are both developmentally and culturally appropriate. Counselors use clear and understandable language when discussing issues related to informed consent. When clients have difficulty understanding the language used by counselors, they provide necessary services to ensure comprehension by clients. In collaboration with clients, counselors consider cultural implications of informed consent procedures and, where possible, counselors adjust their practices accordingly.


 * Standard A.6.a. Advocacy **
 * When appropriate, counselors advocate at individual, group, institutional, and societal levels to examine potential barriers and obstacles that inhibit access and/or growth and development of clients.


 * Standard E.6.c. Instrument Selection and Culturally Diverse Populations **
 * Counselors are cautious when selecting assessments for culturally diverse populations to avoid the use of instruments that lack appropriate psychometric properties for the client population.


 * Standard E.8 Multicultural Issues/Diversity in Assessment **
 * Counselors use with caution assessment techniques that were normed on populations other than that of the client. Counselors recognize the effects of age, color, culture, disability, ethnic group, gender, race, language preference, religion, spirituality, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status on test administration and interpretation and place test results in proper perspective with other relevant factors.

2:  It is an ethical mandate that a counselor not practice outside of their [|scope of practice]. The counselor in this scenario recognized his limitations and referred his client out for assessments by another clinician. The counselor in question sent his client to a clinician for assessments who he knew did not utilize culturally diverse instruments. It was the counselor's duty to do what was best for his client and provide him with the most appropriate care. Unfortunately, the client did not receive assessments that addressed his diverse background. It is now the counselor's ethical duty to respond to the clinician's unethical behavior. The following standards address how the counselor should proceed:
 * Standard H.2.a Suspected Violations and Ethical Behavior Expected **
 * Counselors expect colleagues to adhere to the ACA Code of Ethics. When counselors possess knowledge that raises doubts as to whether another counselor is acting in an ethical manner, they take appropriate action.


 * Standard H.2.b. Suspected Violations and Informal Resolution **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">When counselors have reasons to believe that another counselor is violating or has violated an ethical standard, they attempt to first resolve the issue informally with the other counselor if feasible, provided such action does not violate confidentiality rights that may be involved.


 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Standard H.2.c. Suspected Violations and Reporting Ethical Violations **
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">If an apparent violation has been substantially harmed, or is likely to substantially harm a person or organization and is not appropriate for informal resolution or is not resolved properly, counselors take further action appropriate to the situation. Such action might include referral to state or national committees on professional ethics, voluntary national certification bodies, state licensing boards, or to the appropriate institutional authorities. This standard does not apply when an intervention would violate confidentiality rights or when counselors have been retained to review the work of another counselor whose professional conduct is in question.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">In addition to the ACA Code of Ethics, there are laws set out by the Georgia Secretary of State and the [|Georgia Composite Board of Professional Counselors, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists] that guide a counselor in ethical and legal behavior. [|The Georgia Laws] indicate the need for appropriate assessment selection in section 137-7-.05. It states: 135-7-.05 Assessment Instruments.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;"> **(1)** When using assessment instruments or techniques, the licensee shall make every effort to promote the welfare and best interests of the client. The licensee guards against the misuse of assessment results, and respects the client's right to know the results, the interpretations and the basis for any conclusions or recommendations.
 * (2)** Unprofessional conduct includes but is not limited to the following: **(a)** Failing to provide the client with an orientation to the purpose of testing or the proposed use of the test results prior to administration of assessment instruments or techniques; **(b)** Failing to consider the specific validity, reliability, and appropriateness of test measures for use in a given situation or with a particular client; **(c)** Using unsupervised or inadequately supervised test-taking techniques with clients, such as testing through the mail, unless the test is specifically self-administered or self-scored; **(d)** Administering test instruments either beyond the licensee's competence for scoring and interpretation or outside of the licensee's scope of practice, as defined by law; and **(e)** Failing to make available to the client, upon request, copies of documents in the possession of the licensee which have been prepared for and paid for by the client.