Ethical Reasoning - To Friend or Not to Friend

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:

  • Express core ethical beliefs and their origins.
  • Identify alternative or complementary ethical beliefs within the field of mental health and professional ethics.
  • Apply ethical codes to ethical decision making.
  • Recognize multiple perspectives on an issue the support the notion that the issue is an ETHICAL one.

Instructions

Developing a clear understanding of what is ethical and what is unethical behavior is critical in the development of your skills as a counselor. Ethics, however, are not as simple as a "rule book" of dos and do nots in the profession. While there may be clear policies and expectations and a given workplace, there are always GRAY areas that can trip us up.

In this assignment we are going to explore a particular gray area related to social networking. We are going to use a particular set of guidelines developed by the American Counseling Association.

Click here to download the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics

Ethics Quiz

In this quiz you will relate to your role as a case manager/counselor and the use of social networking tools such as Facebook, email, and websites, and the use of video conferencing and other advanced communication technologies.

Answer the following THREE questions and refer to the 2005 ACA Code of Ethics for support of your decision. (The Code of Ethics does not address electronic communication directly so the answers are not obvious.)

  1. What are the positive and negative aspects of having a Facebook presence? (Be sure to address any ethical challenges that this may present.)
  2. What are the positive and negative aspects of using email and/or video conferencing tools to interact with clients?

Now...read this article written on the ACA website about social networking and ethics.

To Friend or not to Friend

Review this article about the ethical considerations involved in social media an communication...and then answer the THIRD question on the quiz.

  1. Reflect on what you learned from the "To Friend or not to Friend" article. Explain how it supports or modifies your answer to the previous questions in this quiz.

Use the following rubric to guide your writing.

Ethical Self-Awareness

Student discusses in detail/ analyzes both core beliefs and the origins of the core beliefs and discussion has greater depth and clarity.

Understanding Different Ethical Perspectives

Student names the perspective (Ethical Code), can present the gist of said perspective (Ethical Code), and accurately explains the details of the perspective.

Application of Ethical Perspectives

Student can independently apply ethical perspectives/ concepts (your own and the Ethical Code) to an ethical question, accurately, and is able to consider full implications of the application.

Ethical Issue Recognition

Student can recognize ethical issues when presented in a complex, multi-layered (gray) context AND can recognize cross- relationships among the issues.