Therapist-client sexual involvement has been shown to have damaging effects on clients, therapists and the mental health professions. As sexual attraction necessarily precedes sexual involvement, the incidence, experience and management of sexual attraction to clients was investigated in a sample of 485 South African clinical psychologists (return rate 23%). Evaluation of training and attitudes to sexual involvement with current and former clients and to other forms of touch in therapy were also investigated. Survey data from 111 psychologists reveal that 63.1% (79.1% of men and 52.9% of women) have been sexually attracted to clients, at least on occasion, while 97.1% have never become sexually involved with a client. Most (61.4%) do not feel anxious, guilty or uncomfortable about the attraction, although more women (50%) than men (26.5%) do. More than half (58.2%) felt that their sexual attraction had benefited the therapy process, while 76.1% believed that it had never been harmful. Men reported significantly more frequent benefit than women. In managing their sexual attraction, 60.8% sought support from supervisors, peers and their own therapists, while 31.9% worked through the feelings on their own. Ethical practice and welfare of clients were more important reasons for refraining from acting on sexual attraction than fear of legal or professional censure. Ethics codes consulted reflect the lack of nationally endorsed guidelines. Almost half (45.7%) had received no education about therapists' sexual attraction to clients, while only 10.6% had received adequate education. Education about the ethics of therapist-client sexual involvement was rated as significantly more adequate than training about therapists' sexual attraction to clients. Most (74.2%) said that their training was useful in helping them to make informed decisions about sexual involvement with clients. The majority (92.5%) felt that education on these issues should be a required part of training for clinical psychologists. Sexual involvement with former clients was considered less unethical than with current clients (65.2% vs 98.9%). 55.9% believe that there are circumstances in which sexual involvement with former clients might not be unethical, particularly depending on time since termination. Appropriate time between termination of therapy and sexual involvement ranged from immediately (1.8%) to never (44.1 %). Certain forms of touch are considered ethical, although attitudes varied depending on context and form. A handshake was rated to be always ethical by 66.3%, while 83.2% believe kissing is never ethical. There was lack of consensus about hugging and holding hands. Implications of findings and directions for future research are discussed. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1999.

The last decade has seen an increase in the institutionalised professionalisation of the White teachers in the Republic of South Africa. In 1981 the de Lange Commission called for the professionalisation of teacher educators and this was accepted by the Government in the White Paper of 1983. Subsequently teacher educators have been compelled by the National Education Policy Amendment Act (House of Assembly), 1986 (Act 103 of 1986) to register with the Teachers' Federal Council and financial pressure was brought to bear under the Act for teacher educators to associate with recognised teacher organisations. The outcome of this requirement appears to be greater control of the profession by the Government. It is timely to investigate precisely what is understood by professionalisation vis-a-vis teacher educators, as the professionalisation of teacher educators cannot be accomplished by statutory fiat alone. Nor have teacher educators held a particularly professional position within education. The colleges of education have been hemmed in by the provincial authorities on the one hand and by the powerful university lobby on the other. Colleges of education have historically been associated with secondary education and still are, in that they are controlled by the provincial authorities and have not been accorded full tertiary status and standing within the educational organisational structures. The colleges of education per se have no representation and no direct input into policy making and planning for education in South Africa. It is relevant and urgent to ask questions such as "What is meant by the professionalisation of teacher educators?", "What process is involved in professionalisation?" and "How can the increased professionalisation of teacher educators be realistically accomplished in the Republic of South Africa?" To this end, a full exposition of the concept of professionalisation is derived from the literature. The phenomenon and process of professionalisation are thoroughly considered, mainly from a theoretical sociological perspective. A relatively recent history of important events in Education within the Republic of South Africa is considered in the light of the possibilities for furthering the process of the professionalisation of teacher educators in this country,. In particular, the implications of the recommendations of the De Lange Commission (1981) and the Government's reaction to this Commision, as contained in the White Paper (1983), are considered. The South African Teachers' Council for Whites and its impact is assessed, and the implications of the 1983 Constitution are considered, as they affect teacher education in the Republic of South Africa. All the facets and factors implicit in the process of the professionalisation of teacher educators are critically reviewed via the attributive and process paradigms of professionalisation as explicated by Ozyga and Lawn. Recommendations are generated based on the insights obtained. In particular two facets of paramount importance emerged : (i) The need for an organised professional teacher educator association, to promote professional concerns and to represent professional interests in educational provisioning, is essential; and (ii) The need for the Government to reorganise its educational structures, so as to afford teacher educators a channel of professional representation, is evident. These facets would be of mutual value to the profession and the Government alike. Current education structures are sketched and futuristic idealistic models of organisational structures are proposed. On the basis of these studies a number of recommendations are proposed, including, inter alia, the following primary facets : Teacher education should be occupationally delineated, its members should be incorporated in a distinct and discrete professional registration category and statutory recognition should be given to this profession and its members; Teacher educators should form a fully developed national professional association to promote individual and corporate interests and to negotiate on matters of interest and concern; The teacher education profession should be rationalised and coordinated nationally, be accorded a greater degree of professional autonomy and be formally involved in national policy making in a unitary general affairs body; Teacher education should be upgraded to a fully degreed profession, with specialised post graduate degrees being made available with a specific bearing on teacher education, including the opportunity for research; and The courses offered by colleges of education should be upgraded via establishing the option of degree courses at colleges, concentrating all teacher training at colleges of education, providing enhanced facilities for serving teachers to upgrade their qualifications at colleges, promoting a wider acceptance and implementation of integrated teacher training degree courses and promoting the esteem of teaching degree and diploma courses as professional and academic qualifications of repute. / Thesis (M.P.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 1987.

This study examined three perspectives on ethical dimensions of South African professional psychology. These perspectives were derived from three data sets. The first data set comprised a series of public complaints against psychologists; the second a series of ethical dilemmas reported by psychologists themselves, and the third comprised a study of the training of South African psychologists in professional ethics. Clear patterns emerged in the analysis of each data set, and efforts were made to integrate the findings. Psychologists in particular registration categories, trained at particular universities and working in particular practice contexts were disproportionately more likely to attract complaints. Similarly, patterns of dilemmas experienced by psychologists also emerged. Comparison of complaints with dilemmas suggested that there were significant differences and some similarities in the ethical issues and contexts associated with public complaints and psychologists' own ethical dilemmas. The study of ethics training suggested general dissatisfaction with the relevance and quantity of ethics training nationally. The main findings were integrated to make recommendations for improving the ethics training of South African psychologists. The limitations of the data are described, along with suggestions for future research to examine in greater depth and specificity several dominant patterns described by the present study. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

Over the last decade, practice ethics in adult education has become an increasingly visible topic of interest and concern in the literature of the field. However, relatively little research has been done in the whole area of ethics and codes of ethics. This study was undertaken to broaden the empirical data base within the field and provide further insight into the area of practice ethics. The purpose of the study was to examine the views of adult educators in British Columbia about the need for a code of ethics for the field of adult education and to identify the issues, concerns and dilemmas experienced by them. The study is an approximate replication of a 1991 study by McDonald in the state of Indiana. Using survey methodology, three groups of adult education practitioners (N = 460) received a mailed questionnaire that included items related to the study topic and demographic characteristics. A 60% return rate was achieved. The major findings generated by this study confirm positive practitioner views about codes of ethics and support the findings reported in the Indiana study. The findings of this study include: • The majority of adult educators surveyed believe there should be a code of ethics for the field of adult education. • Less than a majority of adult educators surveyed knew of the existence of, or were currently operating under, a code of ethics. • The majority of adult educators surveyed indicated an overall positive view about the general functions of a code of ethics. • Issues related to the learner are most frequently cited as needing to be addressed in a code of ethics for the field of adult education. • The professional association was the most frequently identified organization that adult educators believe should create, disseminate and enforce a code of ethics. • The majority of adult educators either disagree or are unsure about the regulating function of a code of ethics. • The majority of adult educators surveyed cited examples of ethical issues/concerns/dilemmas from their practice settings. • The most frequently cited ethical issues/dilemmas relate to confidentiality concerns and learner/adult educator relationship issues. Historically, the debate about the need for a code of ethics for the field of adult education has been focused within the academic community. This study contributes a practitioner perspective to the ongoing debate. The strong message conveyed by British Columbia adult educators about the need for a code of ethics also clearly reflects the growing trend of code development by professional associations in Canada and the United States. Continued emphasis on educational efforts to address the issues arising from this study and further research in the area of practice ethics are suggested.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuota organizacijų etikos vadybos ir atsinaujinimo galimybių ryšiai, įvertinta ir palyginta viešojo ir privataus sektorių etikos infrastruktūros elementų diegimo praktika ir jų efektyvumo prielaidos organizacijos atsinaujinimo sąlygomis, įvardinta institucinės etikos diegimo situacija ir būklė Lietuvos organizacijų diskurse bei pateikti siūlymai, kaip atsinaujinti diegiant institucinę etiką į vadybos procesus. Pirmojoje dalyje teoriniu aspektu analizuojama etikos mokslo atsinaujinusi samprata, objektas ir praktinio pritaikymo reikšmė; tiriamas organizacinės etikos, kaip inovacijos, išaugęs poreikis ir reikšmingumas dalykinės veiklos efektyvumui; nustatoma etinių problemų kilmė; analizuojant dokumentus, išskiriamas etinių vertybių reikšmės didėjimas dabartinėmis krizės sąlygomis. Antroje dalyje teoriniu aspektu analizuojama etikos vadybos samprata, įvardinama etikos infrastruktūros elementų sistema, išskiriamos vadybos priemonių funkcijos ir veiksmingumas, metodologiškai pagrindžiamas etinių sprendimų priėmimas. Trečioje dalyje aprašoma tyrimo metodologija, įvertinama ir palyginima etikos vadybos analizė pasirinktose organizacijose bei atsinaujinimo galimybės, įvardinami jautriausi probleminiai taškai, nustatomos reikšmingiausių vertybių ir atsinaujinimo galimybių sąsajos, nagrinėjamas ekspertų požiūris į etikos vadybos elementų diegimo galimybes praktikoje ir jų poveikį atnaujinimo galimybėms, apibendrinamos prielaidos atsinaujinimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The Master's Thesis analyses interaction between ethics management in organizations and possibilities of renewal; assesses and compares the practice of implementation of ethics infrastructure elements in private and public sectors as well as prerequisites of efficiency under the circumstances of renewal of organization; describes situation of implementation and condition of institutional ethics in discourse of Lithuanian organizations; and makes the suggestions how to make renewal by implementing institutional ethics in processes of management. The first part theoretically analyzes the recrudescent conception, subject-matter and significance of practical application of the science of ethics; researches the increased demand and significance of organizational ethics, as innovation, for efficiency of professional activity; determines origin of ethic problems; following the analysis of documents, establishes the increase of significance of ethic values in current situation of crisis. The second part theoretically analyses the conception of ethics management; assesses the system of elements of ethics infrastructure; establishes functions and effectiveness of management instruments; substantiates methodologically the ethical decision making. The third part describes methodology of research; assesses and compares the ethics management analyse in selected organizations and possibilities of renewal; describes the most sensitive problematic issues; establishes relations between the... [to full text]

The main purpose of this dissertation is to elucidate the problem of assessing and providing alternative medical technologies. The purpose is divisible into three parts: To investigate the bases of assessment for the acceptance of an alternative medical technology; 2. To investigate the professional and ethical problems connected with the practice of alternative medical technologies and find out whether the views of laymen and physicians differ with regard to the provision of treatments which are not in accordance with science and proven experience; 3. To investigate the interest physicians have shown in alternative medicine and the motives for this interest. These investigations are based partly on a study of the literature on alternative medicine dealing with the effects of the following alternative medical technologies: manipulation therapy, acupuncture, reflexio (zone) therapy, homoeopathy and magnetic therapy, and partly on empirical research into the attitudes expressed by doctors and patients towards non-scientific treatments. The results of these studies show that the acceptance of empirical data cannot be separated from the scientific paradigm within which the investigation has been planned. The documentation of the effect of alternative medical technologies is often empirically insufficient and based, in many instances, on so-called ”personal experience”. The interest shown by accredited physicians in alternative medicine is often motivated by the fact that certain complaints brought to them by their patients cannot be rectified by academic medical methods. The study also shows that physicians have professional interests which the patient is not prepared to respect in the same way as the physician is prepared to respect the right of a patient to refuse to undergo life-saving medical treatment. The main conclusion is that alternative medicine is a heterogeneous field where the interest expressed can be interpreted as a crisis phenomenon and an indication of the need for the assessment of alternative medicine as well as academic medicine. Laymen perceive the ethical and professional problems connected with the practice of alternative medicine relatively differently when compared to physicians. The possibility of scientific co-operation between practitioners of alternative medicine and academic medicine is difficult due to the fact that alternative medicine and academic medicine relate to different scientific paradigms. Clinical co-operation in the case of individual patients, on the other hand, is likely to occur. / <p>Diss. (sammanfattning) Umeå : Umeå universitet, 1991, härtill 6 uppsatser</p> / digitalisering@umu

This study attempted to determine typical perceptions of public relations and news-editorial students of accepted ethical conduct in public relations and journalism. The researcher provided 32 students, half public relations majors and half news-editorial majors, with 51 individual statements. Each statement either supported or opposed a specific action that a public relations practitioner or journalist may take in an ethical dilemma, or a belief that professionals in those fields may hold. Each student was asked to indicate how strongly the student agreed or disagreed with each statement.A computer program developed for Q Methodology studies was used to extract two factors from the students' answers, resulting in the formation of two hypothetical groups, Type I and Type II. Type I consisted of 14 public relations majors and six news-editorial majors. Type II consisted of 10 news-editorial majors and two public relations majors.Most students in both groups agreed that they would not be asked to lie as professionals, that they would always produce original work, that professionals in their future fields believe they serve the public interest, and that professionals in their future fields believe their professions serve society. However, Type I students expected to function as channels of communication for their employers, while Type II students disagreed with that job description of themselves. Type I students strongly disagreed that practitioners in their fields do not care about public feedback; Type II students marginally agreed with that statement. Type I students seemed to believe it was normal for practitioners in their fields to maintain two codes of ethics, one for professional use and another for personal use. Type II students marginally disagreed with that concept. This finding appears to contradict those studies which suggest that practitioners are only as ethical professionally as they are personally. / Department of Journalism

This research compares the ethical values of public relations and political public relations practitioners. The study hypothesizes that a difference exists in the two groups' approach to ethical decision-making.A Q-study was completed by twenty-three midwest members of the Public Relations Society of America and the American Association of Political Consultants. The results identified two groups: one, a group of "communitarians" who relied on personal standards for ethical decision-making but believed the community-the public and the mediainfluenced those standards; and two, a group of "individualists" who relied on personal standards for ethical decision-making and were not influenced by the public, media, religion or law.This research determined that a significant difference did not exist in approach to ethical decision-making between political public relations and traditional public relations practitioners. All of the participants relied primarily on personal standards when making ethical decisions and no participants put personal advancement or pragmatism ahead of ethical decision-making. / Department of Journalism

This research examined at the influence of a public relations professional's personal faith on their professional ethical attitudes. The research question for this study stated: Does a public relations practitioner's religious faith directly influence their ethical practice?A Q-study was completed by forty-five public relations professionals. Data analysis yielded two factors the "God Centered" and the "Profession Driven". The God Centered participants mutually agreed upon statements that placed their faith in a central part of their professional career, and agreed they were accountable to God for their professional career. The second group that emerged were identified as Profession Driven, representing their association with professional based ethics. The respondents in this factor indicated that they strongly agree with the professional provisions suggested in the PRSA Code of Ethics 2000, placing an emphasis on honest counsel, loyalty, and fairness. The second factor viewpoint also strongly agreed that personal goals and values directly influenced their professional ethics.These two factors and the previous literature illustrated the influence of personal standards when making professional ethical decisions. / Department of Journalism

This study attempted to determine whether or not there was a gender difference in students' ethical expectations of the public relations profession. Forty-two Ball State University public relations students participated. The students were given 49 statements that either supported or opposed a specific action that a public relations practitioner may take in an ethical dilemma, or a belief that public relations professionals may hold. Each student was asked to indicate how strongly he/she agreed or disagreed with each statement.The students' answers were analyzed using the QMETHOD factor analysis program. Two groups of individuals were defined: Factor I, "Female Dominated"; and Factor II, "Male Dominated." As the names indicate, the defining characteristic of these groups was the gender composition. The majority of females in the study fell into the first group, and the majority of the males in the study fell into the second group. Factor I z-scores were predominantly positive, whereas Factor II z-scores were predominantly negative-the results were close to perfect mirrors of one another. The findings supported the researcher's hypothesis that there is a gender difference in ethical expectations. / Department of Journalism