Ethical Considerations and Legal Issues

Most professional organizations have a set of ethical principles or guidelines that guide the conduct of a crisis worker. From the essential concept of “do no harm” to more involved practices, such as obtaining informed consent, the ethical considerations that you may take for granted in normal practice are often amplified in disasters, crises, or traumas.

Crisis workers must also be aware of legal issues that may arise in the event of a disaster, crisis, or trauma. For example, when responding to crises or traumas involving minors, crisis workers are bound by mandated reporting laws. Every country has such laws, requiring mental health professionals and school personnel (among others) to report crises and traumas such as child abuse, to state departments of children, youth, and families.

In this Assignment, you will explain ethical considerations and legal issues related to responding to a disaster, crisis, or trauma described in one of two case studies.

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review the APA Ethics Code and reflect on the standards that apply to crisis response and intervention.
• Reflect on which APA ethical principles relate to crisis response and intervention.
• Think about the ethical considerations and legal issues related to school violence.
• Read the Week 2 Case Studies and select one to which you will respond.
• Think about the ethical considerations and/or legal issues related to the case study you chose. Then, consider how you might address those considerations and/or issues as a crisis worker.

The Assignment: (1–2 pages)

• Identify the Case Study to which you are responding.
• Describe the ethical considerations and/or legal issues related to the Case Study you selected.
• Explain how you might address those ethical considerations and legal issues as a crisis worker. Be specificReferences

Required Readings

American Psychological Association. (2014). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct – Including 2010 amendments. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

Dass-Brailsford, P. (2008). After the storm: Recognition, recovery, and reconstruction. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 39(1), 24–30.

Ehrenreich, J. H. (2002). A guide for humanitarian, health care, and human rights workers: Caring for others, caring for yourself. Retrieved from http://www.dochas.ie/Shared/Files/4/Caring_for_Oth…

James, R. K., & Gilliland, B. E. (2017). Crisis intervention strategies (8th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

• Chapter 2, “Culturally Effective Helping” (pp. 27-47)
• Chapter 13, “Crises in Schools” (pp. 429-480)

Newman, E., Risch, E., & Kassam-Adams, N. (2006). Ethical issues in trauma-related research: A review. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 1(3), 29–46.

Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2007). Ethical considerations in crisis and humanitarian interventions. Ethics & Behavior, 17(2), 187–202.