Military and Public Safety Psychology James, Larry; Koocher, Gerald P.
Practice innovations (Washington, D.C.),
03/2024, Letnik:
9, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
One critical area of professional practice that often passes ignored by practitioners involves the unique social, environmental, and job stresses that affect those serving in military and public ...safety arenas. These stresses often contribute to adverse physical and mental health problems including depression and an increased risk of self-harm. Practice Innovations welcomes articles that describe service delivery innovations to these valued public service professionals. The four articles that follow involve important prevention, intervention, and resilience-building strategies with innovative components both in the United States and abroad. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)
A recent article in this journal, "Moving Upstream in the Post-Hoffman Era: When Ethical Responsibilities Conflict With the Law," (Conrad, 2019) provides an imbalanced viewpoint regarding the ...American Psychological Association's (APA's) evolving policies on interrogation of alleged terrorist detainees in the context of conflicts between ethics and law. The article overlooks important facts and documents, leading to uncritical repetition of unsupported conclusions. This response calls for the application of critical thinking (Hitchcock, 2018). Using well-documented examples and historical data, this article seeks to move the public dialog on the APA "Independent Review Relating to the Ethics Guidelines, National Security Investigations, and Torture" toward greater accuracy.
Public Significance Statement
A previously published article in this journal regarding the American Psychological Association's policy development on interrogations failed to include key facts which, if included, could lead readers to a significantly different conclusion than the one reached by the author. This commentary provides examples of how use of selective information perpetuates many of the falsehoods and misrepresentations related to the Hoffman investigation and report and, in doing so, seeks to correct the public record.
Research Ethics and Private Harms Koocher, Gerald P.
Journal of interpersonal violence,
12/2014, Letnik:
29, Številka:
18
Journal Article
Recenzirano
This commentary addresses the emotionally powerful account of Nicole Taus Kluemper from the perspective of a psychologist familiar with the administrative operation of the American Psychological ...Association (APA) and the ethics of the profession. The application of the APA’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct to the case is discussed, and alternative methods of response that researchers who have concerns about case studies might use are offered. The author concludes that existing ethical principles—the aspirational standards in particular—do bear upon the matter in question. However, the enforceable code of conduct is not sufficiently clear about obligations to those whom psychologists publicly discuss when the psychologist does not have a specific duty of care to an individual.
Significant ethical challenges arise when mental health practitioners care for patients who seek to accelerate their own dying for rational medically valid reasons. Current and proposed laws provide ...for medical assistance in dying (MAiD) in several U.S. jurisdictions, all of Canada, and several other nations. Differing provisions of these laws complicate their utility for some patients who seek aid in dying. Some extant laws include roles that mental health professionals might play in assessing patients' competence or capacity to consent, mental illness, or other cognitive and behavioral factors. Practitioners who choose to accept roles in the MAiD process must consider and resolve a number of ethical challenges including potential conflicts between and among laws, ethical standards, third-party requests, personal values, and patients' wishes. These include becoming aware of patients who may wish to act independently to end their lives when MAiD laws might otherwise exclude them. Examples from actual cases and the resultant discussion will form a basis for exploration of the ethical and legal complexities confronted when psychologists become engaged in the process either intentionally or incidentally. The lead article (Koocher) is not intended to comprehensively address MAiD in all of its complexity but rather to trigger a thoughtful discussion among the accompanying commentaries.
Public Significance Statement
Current and proposed laws provide for medical assistance in dying (MAiD), sometimes described as physician-assisted suicide, in several U.S. jurisdictions, all of Canada, and in several other nations. Some such laws require psychological input, usually from either a psychologist or a psychiatrist. The limited scope of existing laws may result in some patients suffering with debilitating, painful, chronic, and fatal illnesses to consider suicide without medical assistance. With or without MAiD legislation, mental health professionals will come in contact with such patients and must consider the potentially complex ethical ramifications of caring for such patients.
Peers nip misconduct in the bud Koocher, Gerald P; Keith-Spiegel, Patricia
Nature (London),
07/2010, Letnik:
466, Številka:
7305
Journal Article
Recenzirano
... it is important that the rules of responsible conduct are understood by all members of the research team; we recommend that researchers set up regular lab discussions about good practices. ... ...people with combative or excessively arrogant personalities, those known to have a track record of scientific misbehaviour, extreme incompetence, mental or substance- abuse problems, or those with much to lose, should be approached only after careful consideration of the available options.
Pinner and Kivlighan (2018) advocated for routine outcome monitoring (ROM) in the practice of psychotherapy as a strategy to ensure ethical decision-making and assessment of therapists' competence. ...We agree that deploying ROM can improve therapeutic outcomes. However, we also believe they overstated the value of ROM as a means to assess clinician competence or ethicality. The fictionalized case example presented as an illustration has the potential to confuse readers regarding the calibration of clinical experience with decisions to accept or refer out potential clients. Although ROM can certainly prevent premature termination and enhance the effectiveness of psychotherapy, the technique by itself cannot stand as an ethical prerequisite or arbiter of practice competence.
Public Significance Statement
A previous publication in this journal by Pinner and Kivlighan (2018) described routine outcome monitoring in psychotherapy practice as a means of assuring psychotherapist competence. We believe that some problems with their reasoning and case example warrant correction.
Medical child abuse, sometimes referred to as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy or childhood factitious disorder, poses significant diagnostic, intervention, and ethical issues for medical and mental ...health practitioners alike. Psychologists working in pediatric hospitals and medical clinics should remain mindful of the health and ethical risks posed by these conditions, which are challenging to detect and treat. The surreptitious nature of the conditions and hazards they pose require an integrated medical, psychological, and child protective response. This article provides historical and clinical background on the condition along with tabular guides and recommendations to assist in detection and intervention.
Foreseeable social and technological changes will force us to reevaluate our thinking about ethically appropriate ways to fulfill our mission of using psychology to advance human health and welfare ...in the twenty-first century. Three categories of challenge related to societal and technological changes have become particularly evident. First, increasing patterns of delivering services over substantial distances by electronic means (i.e., telepsychology) demand consideration. Second, we must parse our ethical obligations to individuals, to groups, and to society at large as our influence working behind the scenes as "invisible" psychologists grows. Finally, as we witness the accelerating demise of psychiatry, we must take care not to follow a similar path. As we face new ethical challenges, we must continually ask ourselves where our responsibilities lie as individuals and as a profession. We must learn not to repeat the mistakes of the past and focus instead on optimizing the future for a science and practice of psychology focused on human health and welfare.
Growth in the presence of emotional support animals (ESAs) in our society has recently garnered a substantial amount of attention, both in the popular media and the professional literature. Public ...media abounds with stories focusing on the increasing number of animals claimed as ESAs, the impact of this growth on society, the industry claiming to certify ESAs, and the various types of animals described as "certified." The authors propose an assessment model for ESAs certification comprising a 4-pronged approach for conducting these types of assessments: (a) understanding, recognizing, and applying the laws regulating ESAs; (b) a thorough, valid assessment of the individual requesting an ESA certification; (c) an assessment of the animal in question to ensure that it actually performs the valid functions of an ESA; and (d) an assessment of the interaction between the animal and the individual to determine whether the animal's presence has a demonstrably beneficial effect on that individual. This model aligns with professional ethics, standards of professional practice, and the law, and seeks to provide clear guidelines for mental health professionals conducting ESA evaluations.
Public Significance Statement
This manuscript outlines the first comprehensive model for mental health professionals making emotional support animal (ESA) assessments. Given the lack of competing models, this should be considered the current standard for making ESA assessments.
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