Monday, July 18, 2016

Potential Ethical Violations



YAVIS- Counselors tend to prefer clients who are young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, and successful, but the most influencing factor is similar cultural backgrounds and experiences.

Viewing clients from the counselors perspective
o The following can be misinterpreted as “problems” in counseling, causing the therapist to see the client as resistant or non-responsive

  • ■ Silence
  • ■ Lack of eye contact
  • ■ Deference to authority

o Client defensiveness or non-disclosure may be termed “healthy cultural paranoia”

  • ■ For many clients the majority cultural environment is hostile and therefore a defensive stance is a rational response.
  • ■ The counselor must acknowledge that the problem may not lie in the client but rather the environment in which the client lives as a minority member


Stereotyping clients by group
o May be unintentional in that the counselor researches the “group” and what the group beliefs are according to research but in so doing generalizes and may miss something about the individual sitting in front of them.

Inappropriate Selection of techniques
o Counselors often depend on high level of verbal exchange to achieve therapeutic progress.

Inappropriate Selection of Tests and Measurements
o Many test reviews have only been done on the majority population type and may not be applicable to all cultures, skewing “normal” results.
o There should be an investigation of possible differences in validity for ethnicity, sex, or other sub-samples that can be identified when test is given.
o What is considered an objective assessment instrument within a majority culture may not be so within a minority culture or a different cultural orientation.
o It is an ethical duty to be aware of this research prior to administering assessments.



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