Ethics in an Age of Information Seekers: A Survey of Licensed Healthcare Providers about Online Social Networking

Abstract

This study examines the current beliefs and behaviors of licensed psychologists, physicians, and social workers regarding ethical use of the social networking website, Facebook©. The study utilized a survey which was adapted from ethics questionnaires used in previous research to explore professionals' average numbers of Facebook friends, social groups, and photo albums as well as attitudes toward possible regulation of online social networking by professional organizations. Statistically significant differences were found among groups regarding the degree to which they wanted guidance on ethically managing technology like social networking websites, with psychologists and social workers desiring more guidance than physicians. Overall, this study shows that the majority of psychologists, physicians, and social workers now frequently use Facebook, often providing personal information on their profiles that may include that which is not generally disclosed in a client-therapist or doctor-patient relationship. Degree Type Thesis RightsTerms of use for work posted in CommonKnowledge. ii ABSTRACT This study examines the current beliefs and behaviors of licensed psychologists, physicians, and social workers regarding ethical use of the social networking website, Facebook©. The study utilized a survey which was adapted from ethics questionnaires used in previous research to explore professionals' average numbers of Facebook friends, social groups, and photo albums as well as attitudes toward possible regulation of online social networking by professional organizations. Statistically significant differences were found among groups regarding the degree to which they wanted guidance on ethically managing technology like social networking websites, with psychologists and social workers desiring more guidance than physicians. Overall, this study shows that the majority of psychologists, physicians, and social workers now frequently use Facebook, often providing personal information on their profiles that may include that which is not generally disclosed in a client-therapist or doctor-patient relationship.

Utilizing Digital Tools to Support Face-to-Face Care: Examining Uptake Within the Practices of Australian Psychologists

“…Discourse attempting to establish an ethical position and distinct policy and framework in regard to social media continues to emerge across the literature (Anderson & Guyton, 2013;Giota & Kleftaras, 2014;Jordan et al, 2014;Reif & Much, 2017), and recent research has focused on less intrusive ways for client social media feeds to be tracked and reviewed. Responding to privacy concerns, anonymous "observer" data gathering technology and mood tracking data analytics are now being developed (De Choudhury, Gamon, Counts, & Horvitz, 2013;De Choudhury, Kiciman, Dredze, Coppersmith, & Kumar, 2016;Mohr, Zhang, & Schueller, 2017;Morris & Aguilera, 2012).…”

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“…Discourse attempting to establish an ethical position and distinct policy and framework in regard to social media continues to emerge across the literature (Anderson & Guyton, 2013;Giota & Kleftaras, 2014;Jordan et al, 2014;Reif & Much, 2017), and recent research has focused on less intrusive ways for client social media feeds to be tracked and reviewed. Responding to privacy concerns, anonymous "observer" data gathering technology and mood tracking data analytics are now being developed (De Choudhury, Gamon, Counts, & Horvitz, 2013;De Choudhury, Kiciman, Dredze, Coppersmith, & Kumar, 2016;Mohr, Zhang, & Schueller, 2017;Morris & Aguilera, 2012).…”

Shaping E-professional identities: Towards an understanding of the impact of social media experiences on the professional development of social work students

“…SNS use has grown significantly in recent years becoming an indispensable and influential part of many people's lives in areas such as leisure pursuits, shopping (Earnst and Young, 2011), and also for important sources of health and medical-related information for people with chronic diseases (Oh and Cho, 2015), and more specifically in relation to the provision of health and social care work (Aase, 2010;Anderson and Guyton, 2013;LaMendola, 2010;McKendrick, 2014;Westwood, Taylor, and McKendrick, 2014) and social work education (Kilpeläinen, Päykkönen, and Sankala, 2011;Mukherjee and Clark, 2012). This has been partly driven by the use of Smart Phones and Tablets (Kimball and Kim, 2013) and advert-funded business models (Linklater, 2014) that have revolutionised and mobilised communication possibilities away from the traditional, static sites of the office/ home computer or laptop.…”

“…For example, it has generated questions about the constitution of online professionalism (Cain and Romanelli, 2009;Megele, 2012). Importantly, other health and social care academics and professionals have identified a number of concerns about the maintenance of professionalism within SNS (Anderson and Guyton, 2013), highlighting the blurred distinctions between personal and professional domains and the lack of over-arching policies from professional bodies for SNS use. Moreover, according to Fuchs, any discussion of social media needs to be placed within a theoretical perspective that takes in power and class; it is not just what social media is and does, but who controls the functions and form of social media that are fully rooted in the business imperatives of profit generation (Fuchs, 2014).…”

“…Helpfully, Anderson and Guyton chronicle the changing nature of communications between professionals such as social workers and service users, reporting the challenges to the traditional modes of understanding boundaries and ethical practice through the increasing use of the internet and SNS. There are possibilities of increased self-disclosure by clinicians and the potential for changes to the client/clinician relationship, particularly where professionals offer online advice or guidance (Anderson and Guyton, 2013). These changes have led to what some commentators suggest is the blurring of public and private domains (Ballantyne, Duncalf, and Daly, 2010) with the potential for ethical violations (Fang, Mishna, Zhang, Van Wert, and Bogo, 2014).…”