Essay on Ethics for School Psychologists

Dr. Ron has a good idea to promote his practice and maintain a good relation with the patients. Upgrading his website is essential, and she intends to ensure her patients to keep patients and the general public interested in her services posted. The web developer provides suggestions on the possibilities of a good web page (Advertising, 2017). The web upgrades are technical, and the web consultant gives the best he can offer on the web experience he has. The possibility of a web page running up in a few days should be a problem that the web developer should deal with. Shelter being a public institution receiving funding from the government should not have deceptive information (Advertising, 2017).

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According to the APA code of ethics on advertising, the psychologist should not knowingly make false, deceptive or fraudulent concerning their practice. The web developer is providing shelter with brilliant ideas on how they will have a web page running in very few days but as a result, infringes on the code of ethics on advertising. Using positive ratings from Angies list on rating is misguided. The shelter does not own the ratings meaning they are not certified. This only portrays a picture of the facility that is not a true reflection of the facility. The Dr. by allowing the web developer to add the ratings from another site is against the code of ethics of APA in advertising.

The web developer suggests that the website should include a testimonial page where the local citizens would include their positive interactions with the shelter and its services. According to APA code of ethics on advertising a psychologist should not make false, deceptive or fraudulent statements concerning their training or degree of success of their service (Jacob, Decker, & Hartshorne, 2011). Dr. Ron by adding the testimonials of positive feedback exclusively of her past patients is against the code of ethics of APA ("Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct", 2017) . The web developer would provide more technological support to the web rather than professional help on psychology. The testimonials according to APA are vulnerable and may cause undue influence to the shelter.

Taking Angies list is not a good intention from the web developer. Clients who visit this site do not directly affect the psychologist. Featuring their testimonials on the shelter website would be misleading. It is a subtle decision if the doctor decides to adopt the idea. The idea from the developer would raise confidentiality concerns and professionalism concerns. The doctor would not invoke feeling about her services (Jacob, Decker, & Hartshorne, 2011). The doctor should only take credit for her successes that are directly linked to her profession and past interactions with patients. The ratings on Angies list would not include the raters identity. This would not have the same effect as to when the persons identity is included in the rating.

The web developer should take the doctors ideas on professional advertising rather than their own. Having APA as a guide for all American psychologists it then gives a better hand to study the code of ethics and provide acceptable information to be put on the website and control the advert according to the code and ethics ("Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct", 2017). The doctor should not allow the web developer to control how the web page should look since she is the one who knows what should go to web page and what does not go on the web page. Believing in believing what seems to look true to the doctor knowing the set rules is against her professional skill. The psychologist should refer to the advertising code of ethics of psychologist as stipulated by APA.

The doctor considering that the facility is funded by the government should choose to allow the government to advertise on behalf of the facility. This would be less tasking for the doctor. It would not question her professional experience and her practice. Further, the government would be in a greater position to seek consultation from relevant bodies on the web upgrade and also on advertising by a psychologist ("Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct", 2017). To uphold integrity, the doctor should seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in the practice of psychology. In this field, the doctor should not cheat or engage in misrepresentation of facts (Jacob, Decker, & Hartshorne, 2011). The web developer giving ideas that are not true is meant to maximize undue benefit on the facility and the doctors professional.

American Psychologist Association is set to guide on the ethical standards the psychologist should adhere to maintain scientific, educational or professional roles of a psychologist. It provides for the code of ethics to be followed and the course of action for the lacking to comply with the ethics. It also stipulates how psychologist under APA should have organizational consulting. For any person to be guided by the association should ensure that they follow the laid down procedures to consult and advertise ("Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct", 2017). With the nature of funding the shelter is receiving from the government it should ensure that it provides services according to the government standards and the association guides the code of conduct of institutions and individuals under it. The doctor should then take into consideration the web developers ideas but act according to the code of ethics that guide her practice and the government specifications.

References

Advertising, V. (2017). Vignette 14: The Psychology of Advertising. Ethicalpsychology.com. Retrieved 3 April 2017, from http://www.ethicalpsychology.com/2012/06/vignette-14-psychology-of-advertizing.htmlEthical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct. (2017). http://www.apa.org. Retrieved 3 April 2017, from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/

Jacob, S., Decker, D., & Hartshorne, T. (2011). Ethics and law for school psychologists (1st ed.). Hoboken, N.J.: J. Wiley & Sons.