WAJIHA HAIDER

ETHICS IN PROFESSSIONAL RESEARCH

ASSINGMENT #1
COURSE INCHARGE: MISS ASMA ASHFAF

THIS ASSINGMENT ENTAILS A CASE IN WHICH AN ETHICAL DELLIMA IS PRESENT AND 10

STEP MODEL FOR ETHICAL DECISION-MAKING IS APPLIED TO IT THROUGH MY SUBJECTIVE
JUDGEMENT.
THE CASE OF DR. MARCELLO
Dr Marcello is a licensed psychologist who has worked in a community mental health agency
for five years. His parents immigrated to the United States from Italy when he was a child.
He specialises in family therapy, an area in which he has had considerable academic training
and supervised experience. Dr Marcello views himself to be competent as a family therapist.
Mr. and Mrs. Turner make an appointment to see him because they are concerned about
their teenage son, who frequently skips school and has been ignoring curfews and other
family rules. The Turners are African Americans. Dr Marcello has little experience in
counselling African families and his cultural background dose not match that if the Turners.
He did have formal courses in multicultural issues in graduate school and has kept up with
the litterateur in this area. In fact, the mental health centre has very few African American
clients and no other staff member at the agency has better training in family therapy. Does
Dr Marcello’s experience make him competent to work with the Turners?
Dilemma highlight: Multicultural background.
Psychologist: Dr Marcello
Family therapy seek by: Mr and Mrs Tumers.
Client: Mr and Mrs Tumer's teenage son

STEP 1: DEVELOPING ETHICAL SENSITIVITY.

There is an ethical dilemma arising in this case due to cultural diversity. The diversity is such
that Dr Marcello is from an Italian American culture and Mr Tumers family is from an African
American culture. Therefore, there is a high chance of the welfare of the family (Mr and Mrs
Tumers and their child) being affected. Through immediate intellectual and emotional
response, I could conclude that this is a challenging case and referring it to a competent
psychologist, who have previously worked with African American clients under supervision
would be a better approach. However, referring is not always a suitable option, as in future,
Dr Marcello might need to work with similar cultural background clients.
STEP 2: CLAFRIFY FACTS, STAKEHOLDERS AND SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT.
Facts

• There is a difference of cultural background of Dr Marcello and the client

• Dr Marcello is a competent family therapist with 5 years of experience
• Dr Marcello keeps up with the recent literature on multicultural issues.
• The psychologist has taken formal courses in multicultural issues.
• The psychologist lacks the competence in skills (supervised experience) with African
American families

Taking these facts in account, Dr Marcello seems to almost fulfil the requirements of
competence required to take up this case. His literature review on multicultural issues and 5
years of experience portrays diligence and his ethical sensitivity towards multicultures and
his efforts to contribute to welfare of his clients. His knowledge is also adequate to take up
this case as he has studied formal courses on multicultural issues. The dilemma that is
arising here is his competence in supervised experience while working with African
American clients. The stakeholders might get affected if this cultural difference hinders the
interpretations that the psychologist would made while handling the case. For instance, if Dr
Marcello focuses on autonomy of the client (child) he might suggest the parents to give
freedom to their children considering his Italian American background. Whereas, in
contrary, African American culture might have such norms that doesn’t allow too much
freedom to a teenage boy as in Italian American culture.
After brief brainstorming, it is identified that initial therapy might be supervised to eliminate
the negative impact of cultural difference, and/or if the teenage boy wants to share
something in private, he might have personal sessions with Dr Marcello upon agreement
with his parents.

STEP 3: DEFINE THE CENTRAL ISSUES AND OPTIONS.

The central ethical issue arising in this case is the difference in the cultural background of
the psychologist and of clients. The options that are identified are:
Supervised sessions should be given to this family

Dr Marcello must review ethnographic researches present on African American culture in

order to better understand their family patterns prior to giving formal sessions.
The case must be referred to another agency who is competent with African American
cultural background.
Informed consents should be provided to avoid any harm in future.

The other options that a colleague might see could include providing the perspective of the
child to the parents during counselling that their son is growing up with different cultures in
America in which he might have few adjustment problems due to difference in school and
home culture.

Step 4: refer to professional standards, guidelines and regulations.

ACA code of ethics:
Section B
B.1 respecting clients rights

B.1.a. multicultural/diversity considerations

Dr Marcello must maintain the awareness and sensitivity regarding the confidentiality and
privacy in accordance with African American culture. He must respect the diverse
perspective in case of disclosure of the information and have discussions with his clients as
to how when and with whom the information could be shared when in need.
B.1.d. explanation of limitation
At the beginning of the session Dr Marcello must inform the client (especially the child) that
their confidentiality might be breached (in that specific situation) as per the limitations of
confidentiality.

B.3 information shared with others

B.3.a subordinates
As here is a high chance that dr Marcello would take up this case and supervised sessions
will be conducted, the clients must be informed that this supervisor or any other
subordinate will maintain the privacy and confidentiality.
B.4 group and family
B.4.b couples and family counselling
Dr Marcello should identify that who is the client and then discuss limitations and
expectations of confidentiality
Section C: professional responsibility
C.2. Professional competence
C.2.a boundary of competence

Multiculture counselling competency is required to gain knowledge, personal awareness,

sensitivity, dispositions, and skills required for being culturally competent while working
with diverse client population.
Section I: resolving ethical issues
I.1.b ethical decision making
When counsellors face an ethical dilemma, they use ethical document in ethical decision
making that may include consultation, consideration of relevant ethical standard principles
and laws. Selecting objective decision based on circumstances and welfare of the client.

I.2.c. consultation
Counsellor may consult with other counsellor who are knowledgeable about ethics, with
colleagues, or with appropriate authority

Step 5: review ethics scholarship

There was another case in which multicultural issue was involved, however the psychologist
(Roberta) took up the case and mis diagnosed a culture related syndrome (that was moth-
madness) as anxiety. This occurred due to lack of experience with Navajo culture clients. Dr
Vasquez discusses the research on contemporary racism, racial microaggressions, privilege,
perceptions of bias and stereotype threat, and the role of neurobiology in understanding
client and counsellor perceptions in cross-cultural encounters. Furthermore, she highlights
the importance of incorporating a strength- and resilience-based focus in multicultural
counselling, Vasquez, M. J. T. (2010).

Step 6: apply ethical principles

There are several codes of ethics that underline the dilemma in case of Dr Marcello. The
foremost one being boundry of competence (c.2.a). That pope and Vasquez 2011 referred
to presence of intellectual competence, skill and emotional competence. The intellectual
competence refers to as knowing about. Which includes taking formal courses or
completion of credit hours in an authorized institution. The second competence is of skill
that is described by pope and Vasquez as knowing how. it includes a supervised experience
in the relevant field which Dr Marcello is lacking.
Another ethical principle that applies here is of, multicultural/diversity considerations
(B.1.a) the confidentiality should be maintained according to the African American culture
and the interpretation of the sessions should be done considering the relevant cultural
background.
The principles of ethics that coincide are multicultural counselling, client's welfare and
client's privacy and confidentiality. However, keeping the ethics of multicultural counselling
in account a supervised session plan could be done in this case because the family seems
willing to take therapy from an experienced psychologist and the psychologist in this case
also seems diligent and sensitive about multicultural issues.

Step 7: consult with supervisors and other professionals

Few of my colleagues suggested that this case should be referred to another competent
psychologist, considering lack of competence of Dr Marcello with African American clients.
Whereas one of my colleagues suggests getting on to working with this case with the
presence of supervisor. Another colleague suggested that if the client is not comfortable in
the presence of supervisor, the sessions must be recorded and then viewed by the
supervisors. This involves ethical principle of record and documentation (b.6, b.6.a, b.6.b,
b.6.c, b.6.d, b.6.e) that deals with informing about the whole record process to client and
then maintaining their confidentiality

Step 8: deliberate and decide

After considering all the principles and consultation with the colleagues, it could be stated
that there are 2 workable options available for Dr Marcello. First one being the referral, that
considering Dr Marcello boundary of competence, this case should be referred to another
agency who is competent enough to deal with African American clients. To deliver the
sessions without causing harm to the client and avoiding any misdiagnosis due to the
difference in the cultural background.

Another option is that dr Marcello take up this case only if a person to supervise these
sessions is arranged. After which, the client family must be informed about the presence of
supervisor, simultaneously, every effort to gain the family's trust that the subordinate will
keep their information confidential, and it is for the betterment of the client to have
supervised sessions to deliver full potential of the services.
Keeping the diligence of Dr Marcello in view and family's trust in his therapy I would be
suggest proceeding with this case and arrange for a supervisor. As Skovholt and Starkey
(2010) suggests, no holy grail of counselling exists, and no amount of experience guarantees
perfectly competent service. Therefore, there is enough experience of dr Marcello with
family therapy and when considering skill competence, his diligence indicates his
enthusiasm and loyalty towards his clients, he has ethical sensitivity as he keeps up with the
literature about issues of multicultural counselling. Therefore, Dr Marcello should proceed
with the case but only in the presence of a supervisor.

Step 9: inform supervisors and document process and actions

Informing the higher authority is necessary, especially in such a case where there is lack of
competence, and a supervisor is required to supervise the sessions. A request for a
supervisor would be made in the head office and after the arrangement of the supervisor,
the family would be informed about the presence of the subordinate and informed consents
would be provided to the client that a subordinate would be observing this session to
minimize the harm that could occur due to lack of experience with African American culture.

Step 10: reflect on experience

I attended all ethical dimensions that arose in this case and handled them proactively, while
keeping the codes of ethics in view. The literature that aided me was the dimensions of
multicultural competency that is laid by sue and sue (2012) and the elaboration on
professional competency laid by Pope and Vesquez (2011). The area where I could improve
is while taking the advice from a professional, one should assess based on subjective
judgement, which professional is competent in the relevant area. Example: professionals
who have ethical sensitivity about multicultural issues should be asked for advice about
multicultural issues.