Wanted: A Comprehensive Approach to Ethics Research and Education

Abstract

This article examines the literature on counselor and therapist ethics and the research on ethics education. It identifies strengths and gaps in this literature and presents guidelines for future research. The authors argue that the profession's interest in ethics has not been translated into systematic study of the underlying dynamics of unethical behavior, and that until the profession makes a commitment to scientific research of the phenomenon, its efforts at remediation have limited potential for success.

Issues and Insights: Philosophy, Moral Philosophy, and Counseling Ethics: Not an Abstraction

“…In their literature review of ethics research and education in counseling and psychology, Welfel and Lipsitz (1983) noted the influence of authors such as Losito (1980) and Drane (1982) by including moral philosophy considerations as one of the five major issues addressed to date in the counseling ethics literature. Welfel and Lipsitz's summary of the general underlying theme of the five major issues was that scholars advocated greater sophistication in approaches to ethics.…”

“…Welfel (2002) cited literature from philosophy as one of several sources available to assist counselors in making ethical judgments. Remley and Herlihy (2001) asserted that principle ethics and virtue ethics provide the foundations of ethics for the helping professions.…”

Ethics Education: Recommendations for an Evolving Discipline

“…The Questionnaire of Philosophy and Prac- tices of Professional Ethics Education in CACREP-Accredited Counselor Education Programs was developed from a review of (a) previous questionnaires related to teachmg ethics in counseling and psychology (Stadler & Paul, 1986;Vanek, 1990), (b) research on ethical decision making and pedagogy (Welfel & Hannigan-Farley, 1996;Welfel & Lipsitz, 1983), (c) texts and position papers on foundational principles of ethics in the talk therapy disciplines (Coreyet al, 1998;Jordan & Meara, 1990;Kitchener, 1996;Van Hoose & Paradise, 1979), (d) ethical codes and standards of practice for counselors (ACA, 1995), and (e) CACREP accreditation criteria as related to ethics in counselor education (CACREP, 2001). Question style followed recommendations provided in Mail and Telephone Survqs: The Total Design Method (Dillman, 1978).…”

Group Work and the Teaching of Ethics

“…Similarly, Strom and Tennyson (1989), in describing their probiem-posing model for developing "moral responsibleness" noted that in the dialogue phase of their model, "the critical analysis of meanings, actions, existing conditions, and claims to truth and value in dialogue help students to expand awareness of their beliefs and values to clarify contradictions and to weigh and reconcile positions" (p. 40). These different positions include elements that may be potentially in conflict such as task and maintenance functions of the group, the ideas of self and other, and conflicting aspects of the self and social relationships, such as self-defeating behavior or the recognition by professionals-in-training that professionals make mistakes or that they may sometimes be compromised by institutional demands (see Jansen & Glinow, 1985;Wren, 1985).…”