ethical and legal considerations 10
Ethical and Legal Considerations
Ethics are moral principles that may be used as guidelines for your personal or professional life. You may have ethics for how to live, ethics for how to conduct business, and a professional code of ethics that sets standards for your industry. For example, the American Psychology Association (APA) has an ethics code for psychologists, which is formally known as the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
In 2006, APA Ethics Director Dr. Stephen Behnke used metaphors for psychologists to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of the Ethics Code. For example, the Ethics Code is a stop light because it tells you when you must come to a full stop, when you may proceed with caution, and when you may continue with your interventions (Behnke, 2006). Consider the stop light when working with children and adolescents. At what times might you see red, yellow, or green? When working with children and adolescents, the use of the stop light is significant. You also must be aware of state and federal laws when working with children and adolescents. When ethical and legal considerations conflict, which ones should you follow? This is a common dilemma in the field of psychology. Therefore, you should be aware of both ethical and legal dilemmas and strategies to address them.
With these thoughts in mind:
Post by Day 4 an example of an ethical or legal dilemma related to child and adolescent health psychology. Then explain two strategies you might use to address this dilemma as a future health psychology professional. Support your response with references to the APA Code of Ethics and/or ACA Code of Ethics.
Be sure to support your postings and responses with specific references to the Learning Resources.