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Introduction
The ethical dilemma in the situation is that the interns are discussing clients in a public setting and sharing confidential information about the clients to understand their difficulties. The confidentiality statutes require therapists to refrain from discussing privileged information with colleagues, friends, family, or other persons not involved in the counseling process (Duncan & Geist, 2022). The reason is that discussing private information violates several ethical standards outlined in the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct.
Discussion
Various statutes were violated when the interns discussed a client, they considered resistant. Standard 4.04: Professional Responsibility to Protect Confidentiality is one of the rules violated. These standards state that psychologists “have a primary duty to take reasonable steps to safeguard classified information obtained through or stored in any media format (Duncan & Geist, 2022). The therapists should acknowledge that confidentiality’s full scope and boundaries may be regulated by law or established by institutional rules or professional or scientific relationship.” Standard 4.05: Discussing Private Information of Others, which stipulates that “Psychologists must not share confidential information gained in the course of their profession unless appropriately allowed or mandated by law,” is also broken (Duncan & Geist, 2022). Interns’ public discussion of client confidentiality issues breaches these ethical rules.
The interns are required to recognize the seriousness of their behavior and take action to rectify the situation in order to effectively tackle this ethical dilemma. This involves admitting fault for their actions, apologizing to their customers, and taking steps to prevent similar errors from occurring again. The interns must first acknowledge the gravity of their behavior and own up to it if they are to find a way to solve this moral issue. This means confessing to the breach of confidentiality and offering an apology to the customers (Nandi et al., 2022). The interns should also take measures to ensure that similar incidents do not happen again in the future, such as deciding not to discuss customer information in public settings and establishing parameters for sharing confidential information (Nandi et al., 2022). Furthermore, the interns should be apprised of the worth of preserving customer privacy and be eager to converse with their supervisors regarding the ethical consequences of their decisions.
The next undertaking is to create a plan that can help avoid repeating the same scenario. This strategy should involve grasping the importance of shielding client secrecy, defining limits for data exchange, and promising to refrain from talking about customer data in public (Nandi et al., 2022). Furthermore, guidance should be offered to the interns in regard to the ethical consequences of making known private facts, and they should be made aware of the requirement to examine these matters with their supervisors. A distinct policy for revealing private facts as well as a system for following policy infringements should both be incorporated into the plan to avoid future violations.
Conclusion
The last step is for the interns to review the action plan with their supervisors and receive feedback on their plan. The administrators should provide guidance and support to the interns throughout the process and resources and training on the ethical implications of sharing confidential information (Nandi et al., 2022). The managers should also ensure that the interns are held accountable for any policy violations and provided with support and guidance when needed.
References
Duncan, M. K., & Geist, K. (2022). Psychology Students’ Understanding of Ethics and Application of Ethical Principles. Teaching of Psychology, 49(2), 118-123. Web.
Nandi, S., L. Watts, L., Lefkowitz, J., & Gonzalez, M. (2022). The APA ethics code and I-O psychology: Applicability, gaps, and recommendations. Conference: 37th Annual Conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology Seattle, WA.
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