Ethical decision-making is an important but challenging aspect of the role of a clinical psychologist. Little research has been conducted concerning how clinical psychologists make ethical decisions, with even less known about how trainees manage the process during professional training. The current study aimed to examine how trainees make ethical decisions, and how this process differs between more and less experienced trainees. Thirty-nine trainee clinical psychologists were recruited from a total of 17 doctoral training programmes in the United Kingdom. The sample recruited was demographically similar to the training population. A cross-sectional design was used to examine differences between first year (n = 19) and third year (n = 20) trainees. An online version of The Defining Issues Test questionnaire (DIT-2, Rest et al., 1999) was used to measure level of sophistication of ethical development, and individual face to face or Skype repertory grid interviews examined the integration of trainees’ personal and professional ethical decision-making construct subsystems. The vast majority of trainees were found to adopt a sophisticated approach to ethical decision-making, with half of all ethical decisions made from within a postconventional schematic approach. However, a small minority operated from within schemata based on maintenance of societal norms or personal interests. A deterioration in sophistication of thinking was demonstrated for more experienced trainees. Less experienced trainees were found to rely comparatively more heavily on their personal construct subsystems than more experienced trainees and vice versa. Increased integration between the subsystems over the course of training was demonstrated. The study demonstrates support for an acculturation process occurring throughout training. Implications of this and ideas for future research are discussed.

A presente investigação tem como objetivo estudar sobre o futuro do adolescente abrigado no imaginário coletivo de psicólogos. Justifica-se na medida em que, abordando um grupo profissional atento à importância da adolescência, no percurso da vida pessoal, pode contribuir para um debate sobre a condução de vítimas de sofrimentos sociais a abrigos. Articula-se, do ponto de vista metodológico, por meio da realização de entrevistas individuais, estruturadas a partir do uso do Procedimento Desenhos-Estórias com Tema, com oito psicólogos. Tais encontros foram registrados sob forma de narrativas transferenciais que, conjuntamente com os desenhos e as histórias, foram consideradas à luz do método psicanalítico. Por esta via, foi possível chegar à produção interpretativa de três campos de sentido afetivo-emocional ou inconscientes relativos: Fadado ao fracasso, Salvo por mágica e Com ajuda e boa vontade. O quadro geral revela uma tendência dos participantes a considerar que o adolescente abrigado dificilmente escapará a um futuro infeliz. Assim, fica claro que se posicionam de modo crítico à realidade dos abrigos, concebendo-os como instituições que não chegam a dar conta satisfatoriamente de sua função social / This research intends to study the future of adolescents in foster care within the collective imaginary of psychologists.The study can contribute to the debate over the conduction of the victims of social suffering to foster care shelters by addressing a professional group aware of the importance of adolescence during the personal life. This approach consists, from the methodological point of view, in structured interviews conducted with eight psychologists using the story-drawing procedure with a theme. Such meetings were registered under the form of transferential narratives, which, along with the drawings and the stories, were considered through the psychoanalytical method. This way, it was possible to reach the interpretative production of three affective-emotional meaning fields or relative unconsciousness: Bound to fail, Saved by Magic and With help and will. The general framework reveals a trend of the participants to consider that the sheltered adolescent will hardly come off from a miserable future. Thus, it is clear that these professionals position themselves critically to the foster care shelter reality, conceiving them as institutions that are not able to fulfill their social function satisfactorily

General pediatricians are typically the first professionals to detect the early developmental concerns of young children during their infant and toddler stages. When concerns are identified by the general pediatrician, best practice encourages the referral of young children for further assessment and/or intervention. Due to these factors, this study focused on the methods general pediatricians use in their efforts to implement the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) guidelines for the developmental surveillance and screening of young children. Furthermore, this study focused on the barriers faced by general pediatricians and the solutions they have developed to overcome these barriers in their efforts to assist young children with developmental delays and disabilities. Twenty-eight pediatricians who also were members of the Region V Florida Chapter of the AAP provided responses to survey data inquiring about the implementation of AAP guidelines within their settings. Six of the survey respondents were general pediatricians who each participated in a semi-structured interview to gain further insight into their implementation of the AAP guidelines. Additionally, existing barriers were examined to determine the strategies general pediatricians developed to overcome them. The results showed that each of the six general pediatricians reported their engagement in some, if not all recommended AAP guidelines. The general pediatricians shared specific examples of how this was done, which provided valuable data for other general pediatricians who desire to learn effective strategies for implementing AAP guidelines. The interview responses addressed several themes, including training and continuing education, learning about and using developmental screeners, determining the cause of delays and disabilities, referring children with delays and disabilities, using a culturally-sensitive/family centered approach, and increasing parent awareness. General pediatricians also reported how they have overcome the barriers (e.g., limited time and staff members) to following AAP guidelines, as well as barriers that continue to exist (e.g., insufficient reimbursement for preventive care, difficulties serving children from low-income families, etc.). Although this study focused on how general pediatricians have overcome obstacles, multidisciplinary collaboration was emphasized as an integral factor needed to achieve the earliest identification and intervention implementation for young children with developmental concerns.

The purpose of this study is to investigate ethical dilemmas and ethical difficulties experienced by psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. The study is a replication of previous studies conducted by Colnerud (1997) and Slack and Wassenaar (1999). A sample of 295 psychologists in Sweden and 312 psychologists in South Africa were asked to describe situations that they identified as ethically difficult. 53 psychologists in Sweden described 61 incidents and 21 psychologists in South Africa described 24 situations. This corresponds to a response rate of 20% in Sweden and 8% in South Africa. The reported dilemmas were categorized according to a qualitative content analysis developed by Pope and Vetter (1992). The contribution of this study is that the results confirm that confidentiality is a prominent ethical dilemma for psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. This finding is consistent with findings in comprehensive international research. Furthermore, the results indicate that psychologists, especially in Sweden, experience ethical problems due to weakened legitimacy when conducting assessments. The results are discussed taking into consideration the different contexts in which psychologists work, the application of different ethics codes and different levels of ethical awareness. The weaknesses of the study and the method used are also discussed.

Existerande skolstrider, överlappande skolteorier samt vetskapen att erfarna psykologer arbetade integrativt var anledningarna till att Örebro Universitet, 2002, startade ett Psykologprogram med integrativ psykoterapiinriktning. Den grupp som examinerats från programmet har ännu inte studerats utifrån hur de beskriver sitt arbetssätt, deras föreställningar om psykoterapiintegration och hindrande faktorer för integration av terapiskolor samt hur de tolkar evidensbegreppet. Studien är en tvärsnitts enkätstudie med kvantitativa och kvalitativa frågor som syftar till att besvara dessa frågeställningar. Ett tillgänglighetsurval resulterade i 70 stycken deltagare. Deltagarna anger sitt arbetsätt som i huvudsak integrativt. En förvirring kring hur och när integration ska ske samt en snäv tolkning av hur evidensbegreppet definieras finns i gruppen. Vi föreslår att framtida integration bör guidas av evidensbaserad praktik. / Existing school conflicts, overlapping schooltheories and knowledge that experienced psychologists were working integrative were reasons why Örebro University, in 2002 started a Psychologist Program with an integrative psychotherapy approach. The graduated from this program have not yet been studied based on how they describe their practices, their beliefs about psychotherapy integration and impeding factors for the integration of therapy schools and how they interpret the concept of evidence. The study is a cross-sectional questionnaire study with quantitative and qualitative questions designed to answer these questions. An availability sample resulted in 70 participants. Participants indicates their practices as substantially integrative. A confusion about how and when the integration will take place, and a narrow interpretation of how evidence is defined is present in the group. We suggests that future integration should be guided by evidencebased practice.

<p>The purpose of this study is to investigate ethical dilemmas and ethical difficulties experienced by psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. The study is a replication of previous studies conducted by Colnerud (1997) and Slack and Wassenaar (1999). A sample of 295 psychologists in Sweden and 312 psychologists in South Africa were asked to describe situations that they identified as ethically difficult. 53 psychologists in Sweden described 61 incidents and 21 psychologists in South Africa described 24 situations. This corresponds to a response rate of 20% in Sweden and 8% in South Africa. The reported dilemmas were categorized according to a qualitative content analysis developed by Pope and Vetter (1992). The contribution of this study is that the results confirm that confidentiality is a prominent ethical dilemma for psychologists in Sweden and South Africa. This finding is consistent with findings in comprehensive international research. Furthermore, the results indicate that psychologists, especially in Sweden, experience ethical problems due to weakened legitimacy when conducting assessments. The results are discussed taking into consideration the different contexts in which psychologists work, the application of different ethics codes and different levels of ethical awareness. The weaknesses of the study and the method used are also discussed.</p>

Thesis (Ph. D.(Psychology))--University of Pretoria, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-226).

Low life satisfaction and substance use in adolescence are causes for concern as each problem is known to be associated with many concurrent and later negative outcomes. To date, only four studies have examined links between these variables in youth. This study added to the literature by examining adolescents' life satisfaction in relation to their frequency of use of a variety of substance types, using an understudied population (i.e., a predominantly Hispanic sample of 130 high school students). Results included significant, inverse bivariate links between adolescent life satisfaction and use of alcohol, cigarettes, and marijuana. When examined simultaneously, adolescents' use of any of the three substance types accounted for a significant but small proportion (6%) of variance in global life satisfaction scores. Other notable results include that gender (but not ethnicity) moderated the relationship between life satisfaction and one type of substance use; specifically, adolescent males who drank alcohol in the past year did not experience diminished life satisfaction. Contrary to hypotheses, high life satisfaction did not protect students who experienced increased risk factors (e.g., poor academic achievement, conduct problems, emotional problems) from actual use of substances. Implications of these findings for future research and practice are outlined and discussed.

This dissertation investigated the effects of infusing therapeutic assessment practices into school-based psychological assessments on parent experience. Fourteen assessment professionals from a medium sized public school district in central Texas were assigned to one of two groups based upon previous exposure to Finn’s Therapeutic Assessment (2003) model. Those in the Therapeutic Assessment-infused (TA-I) group were trained on collaborative assessment concepts, while those in the standard practice group were asked to conduct assessments as usual, while being required to conduct initial and feedback meetings with parents. Outcomes were measured using the Parent Experience of Assessment Survey – I (PEAS-I), Parents’ Positive and Negative Emotions (PPNE), the Experience of School Investment and Collaboration Scale (ESICS), and post-interviews with parents and assessors. Parent ratings from both groups were compared using a MANOVA. It was hypothesized that parents in the TA-I group would report having learned more, more positive parent/assessor and child/assessor relationships, more collaboration with the assessor, less negative emotion related to the assessment, and a higher perception of family involvement in their child’s problems. Parents in the TA-I group were also hypothesized to report a greater sense of home-school collaboration and school investment in their child. Finally, it was proposed that parents in the TA-I group would report feeling more positive and less negative about their child’s future. The group difference was not statistically significant, due in part to limited sample size. However, small to medium effect sizes were achieved for several outcome scales, including parents’ positive emotions following participation, positive parent-assessor relationship, and parental sense of collaboration throughout the assessment. An exploratory measure indicated a significantly greater sense of future collaboration with their child’s school for parents in the TA-I group. Post-participation interviews indicated clear appreciations of the TA-I model. Parents experiencing standard practice assessments, however, also expressed high satisfaction, though the requirement of two face-to-face parent meetings may have contributed to a notable departure from standard practice. Results suggest that infusing TA-I practices into school assessments may be effective in increasing parental satisfaction and home-school collaboration. Further research is warranted, and discussion of potential improvements for future research is provided. / text

The informal breach of client confidentiality by psychologists was discussed in relation to various issues in professionalism and professional ethics, both in general and in the South African context. lnformal breaches of client confidentiality were identified as a common by under researched form of ethical malpractice, and nominated as the dependent variable in this study. Different emphases in ethical education were discussed in relation to various theories of moral thinking and moral action (particularly the 'levels' theory of moral thinking of R.M. Hare), and identified as an independent variable for the empirical portion of the study. A second independent variable, of countertransference responses by psychologists to clients, was also identified and discussed. A purpose-developed postal questionnaire was administered to a sample of South African clinical, counselling, and educational psychologists to assess the incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality in a South African sample, as well as the relationship between the variables. Although a high incidence of informal breaches of confidentiality was reported by the sample, and indirect support for Hare's levels theory of moral thinking found, the results did not demonstrate a significant relationship between the independent and dependent variables. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.