A Practitioner's Guide to Ethical Decision Making
Counselors must make sound ethical decisions but, often, determining the appropriate course to take when confronted with a difficult ethical dilemma can be a challenge. This guide assists counselors in ethical decision making; it is presented as a supplement, and is to be used in conjunction with, the American Counseling Association (aca) Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice. This practitioner's guide addresses principles that are globally valuable in ethical decision making and provides a model for professionals to utilize in their practice. It opens with a review of the five moral principles that are viewed by many as the cornerstone of ethical guidelines: autonomy, nonmaleficence, beneficence, justice, and fidelity. These principles provide an absolute against which counselors can explore an ethical dilemma, thereby gaining a better understanding of conflicting issues. A sequential, seven-step, ethical, decision-making model is presented next and comprises the following: (1) identify the problem; (2) apply the aca Code of Ethics; (3) determine the nature and dimensions of the dilemma; (4) generate potential courses of action; (5) consider the potential consequences of all options and then determine a course of action; (6) evaluate the selected course of action; (7) implement this action. (Rjm)
Microform, English, 1995
ACA Distribution Center, 1995