Professional Ethical Guidelines Research Articles

The Shift to Online Psychotherapy: Adaptation and Implications for Brazilian Clinical Psychologists Amid Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted traditional psychotherapy practices, prompting a rapid transition to online modalities. This qualitative study investigates how Brazilian clinical psychologists adapted to online psychotherapy during and after the pandemic. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five psychologists, each with an average professional experience of 8.9 years. Using the Iramuteq software for lexical analysis, six thematic classes were identified: uncertainties during the transition, emerging possibilities, adaptability movements, pandemic context, new professional perspectives, and academic and professional trajectories. The findings highlight significant challenges, including managing technological tools, maintaining therapeutic relationships, and addressing client concerns in virtual settings. However, the transition also revealed notable advantages, such as reduced operational costs, enhanced flexibility, and expanded access to psychological care. The analysis underscores the critical role of digital competencies, including technical, communicational, and cultural skills, in ensuring effective online therapy. Additionally, the results point to gaps in academic training and professional preparation for telepsychology, emphasizing the need for curriculum reform to include digital literacy and teletherapy-specific strategies. The study concludes that online psychotherapy represents not only a response to crisis but also a sustainable model for expanding access to mental health care. It calls for targeted professional development and ethical guidelines to support psychologists in navigating digital environments effectively. These insights contribute to understanding the evolving dynamics of psychotherapy and provide actionable recommendations for improving digital mental health services in Brazil and beyond.

The Development and Impact of AI-Generated Content in Contemporary Painting

The paper examines the evolution and impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) technology in the field of painting, tracing its ascent from the early 21st century. It highlights pivotal developments in AI-generated content (AIGC), starting with Harold Cohen's "AARON" program in the early 1990s, progressing to Yang Zhiping's introduction of generative adversarial networks (GANs) in 2000, and culminating in Robbie Barrat's innovative applications in 2018. These milestones underscore the swift progression and vast potential of AIGC for both technical innovation and artistic expression. This analysis delves into the current landscape of AIGC in painting, identifying key technological advancements such as deep learning, GANs, style transfer, adaptive algorithms, and augmented reality. These technologies have elevated artistic creation to unprecedented levels. However, AIGC also confronts significant challenges, including issues related to copyright and intellectual property, artistic ethics and originality, technical constraints, market acceptance, and socio-ethical and legal concerns. To address these challenges, the paper proposes several solutions: clarifying legal standards, establishing authorization mechanisms, fostering hybrid creative models, enhancing the diversity of training data, promoting public education and outreach, and developing professional training and ethical guidelines.

Ethical reflections on social media use within music therapy: A conversational focus group study

ABSTRACT Introduction Social media has transformed how music therapists work, with numerous practitioners utilizing the affordances of social media in music therapy practice. So far, music therapy research has been significantly limited regarding the ethical implications of social media use. A better understanding of the ethics of social media use is needed to inform the continuous evaluation of professional ethical guidelines. Methods We conducted a systematic text condensation of transcripts from one conversational focus group consisting of five participants with diverse connections to music therapy and social media. Results The results highlight the many ways social media can facilitate both substantial value as well as serious risk in music therapy practice. Through the analysis, it has also become clear that music therapists must make complex considerations in working with social media to maintain a level of responsible practice. Discussion This study provides (a) insights and experiences from practice gathered in a conversational focus group, (b) discussions exploring the possible value and risks of social media use in music therapy, and (c) implications for practice including a summary of some ethical reflections.

Pattern Recognition and Anomaly Detection in fetal morphology using Deep Learning and Statistical learning (PARADISE): protocol for the development of an intelligent decision support system using fetal morphology ultrasound scan to detect fetal congenital anomaly detection

IntroductionCongenital anomalies are the most encountered cause of fetal death, infant mortality and morbidity. 7.9 million infants are born with congenital anomalies yearly. Early detection of congenital anomalies facilitates life-saving...

Ethical Gaps in Ophthalmology in the United States.

To highlight gaps in the professional ethics of ophthalmology. Perspective. Presentation of problematic cases in ophthalmologic ethics with juxtaposition of ethical, legal, and conscientious viewpoints informed by relevant literature. What is legal, ethical, and conscientious overlap but are not identical. Professional ethical guidelines, when they exist, are stricter than what the law requires, but are silent on several contemporary controversies. Conscientious guidelines can vary from loosest to strictest as they apply to individuals with wide variability. The relationship of ophthalmology to society changes, and ethical guidelines lag for some of the interactions. The rules of ethics for ophthalmology need to be updated and evidence of activity and oversight made public. Failure to do so invites greater external regulation.

The Attitude of the Public Concerning Coercive Measures in Psychiatric Patients

To examine the attitude of the general public in Basel concerning the use of coercive measures while dealing with psychiatric patients. The common population indirectly governs the use of coercive measures in psychiatry by its stigmatization of people with psychiatric illnesses, and its attitude towards treatment in psychiatry and by local opinion leaders and reactions of social networks. The answers of 1,112 persons from a representative population survey were evaluated. Participants were mailed case vignettes and questionnaires, and asked if they considered involuntary admission, coercive medication, and/or seclusion as acceptable measures in dealing with psychiatric patients. When symptoms of a psychotic disorder were present, 31.5% approved of at least one coercive measure, with 22% approval in the case of a borderline personality disorder, and 20.7% in the case of alcohol dependency. However, the overall rejection of coercive measures by the general public in Basel was high. The differential approval of the examined coercive measures depending on psychiatric symptoms was in line with professional medical and ethical guidelines. Public attitudes have an indirect influence on the local use of coercive measures and should be included in the specialist psychiatric discourse.

Development of a Digital Platform: A Perspective to Advance Space Telepharmacy.

Goal: Lessons learned from decades of human spaceflight have helped advance the delivery of healthcare in rural and remote areas of the globe. Inclusion of the public in spaceflights is not yet accompanied by technology capable of monitoring their physical and mental health, managing clinical conditions, and rapidly identifying medical emergencies. Telepharmacy is a practice prioritizing pharmacotherapeutic guidance and monitoring to help improve patient quality of life, and can potentially expand the field of space medicine. We seek to advance pharmaceutical care through telepharmacy by developing a digital platform. Objective: This study focuses on the development of a digital platform for teleassistance and pharmaceutical teleconsulting services that builds on lessons learned in delivering space medicine. Methods: The platform contains evidence-based information on various drugs grouped by medical specialty, and also records and saves patient appointments. It has specific service protocols for service standardization, including artificial intelligence, to allow agility in services and escalation. All data is protected by privacy and professional ethics guidelines. Results: The telepharmacy platform is ready and currently undergoing testing for ground applications through validation studies in hospitals or medical clinics. Conclusions: Although developed for use on Earth, this telepharmacy platform provides a good example of how terrestrial healthcare knowledge and technology can be transferred to space missions.

Perceptions of Engineers' Environmental Responsibility and Professional Codes of Ethics

In Canada, provincial and territorial level Professional Engineering Codes of Ethics (PECoEs) derived from national guidelines presented by Engineers Canada, provide principles for engineers to aid in decision making and to evaluate the ethical correctness of professional behaviour [1]. Engineers Canada states that engineers must, “Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public and the protection of the environment and promote health and safety within the workplace” [1]. This is frequently the only guideline directly related to the environment included in Canadian provincial and territorial PECoEs)[2-13]; Notably, Ontario’s PECoE currently does not explicitly mention the environment in any capacity [14]. Present professional engineering ethics guidelines for environmental responsibility are either missing or largely open to interpretation in Canada, and complex environmental issues may require more robust ethical frameworks to be effectively approached long-term within engineering industry.
 Developing PECoEs requires a better understanding of how engineers view their ethical responsibility with respect to the environment. This paper outlines a study to investigate the ethical beliefs and PECoE interpretations of participants through an online survey with ethical case studies, and interviews. The ultimate goal of this research is to aid the development of PECoEs and engineering ethics education to support sustainable practice.

Online dilemma discussions as a method of enhancing moral reasoning among health and social care graduate students

Dilemma discussions have been proven to be one of the most effective methods to enhance students’ moral reasoning in ethics education. Dilemma discussions are increasingly arranged online, but research on the topic has remained sparse, especially in the context of continuing professional education. The aim of the present paper was to develop a method of dilemma discussions for professional ethics. The method was based on asynchronous discussions in small groups. Health and social care students raised work-related dilemmas from their experiences and discussed them in terms of professional values, ethical guidelines and theories. Participants in this quasi-experimental study were 87 first-term graduate students at a Finnish university of applied sciences. Health and social care students in two consecutive ethics courses constituted two experiment groups, whereas health and social care students and business students in other programmes served as control groups. Students filled in a Defining Issues Test (DIT2) at the beginning of their studies and three months apart. Statically significant increase in moral reasoning was evidenced for experiment group 2, when discussion groups were purportedly composed to maximise differences in initial levels of moral reasoning. Findings suggest that online dilemma discussions can advance students’ moral reasoning development, especially when students’ exposure to higher-level arguments is ensured through complementary means, such as instructions, examples and plenary discussions. Online real-life dilemma discussions may also serve other important goals of ethics education, especially acquiring ethical concepts, and they can promote other components of ethical decision making: ethical sensitivity and motivation, and acquisition of implementation skills.

Ohio Abortion Regulations and Ethical Dilemmas for Obstetrician-Gynecologists.

To analyze obstetrician-gynecologists' (ob-gyns') experiences with, and perspectives on, how Ohio's abortion-restrictive regulatory landscape affects their health care practices. Between 2019 and 2020, we conducted qualitative interviews and focus groups with ob-gyns (N=35) who had practiced in Ohio for at least 6 months between 2010 and 2020. Discussions were recorded, transcribed, coded, and analyzed thematically using ATLAS.ti software. Participants perceived Ohio abortion regulations affecting their practice in three key ways: abortion regulations framed abortion and physicians who provide abortion as separate and distinct from other medical practices and physicians; many institutional interpretations of abortion regulations undermined physician expertise and professional autonomy; and the constellation of abortion regulations, institutional interpretations, physicians' trepidation, and their perceived inability to exercise clinical judgment worked together to limit abortion access and increase risks to patients' lives and health. The combined factors left participants feeling distraught that they were unable to practice medicine in an ethical and compassionate manner. Ohio abortion regulations limit ob-gyns' ability to provide comprehensive reproductive health care, creating ethical dilemmas for these physicians as they attempt to care for their patients. As Ohio's abortion laws increase in number and restrictiveness, they further undermine obstetric and gynecologic ethical practice guidelines. However, medical institutions play a key role in determining abortion provision in Ohio; through their interpretation of the law, institutions can demonstrate support or further limit ob-gyns' ability to exercise clinical judgment and provide ethical, compassionate care to their patients. Considerable work remains to bring Ohio's abortion regulations, institutional interpretations, and physician practices into alignment with professional clinical practice and ethics guidelines.

Archival Virtue: Relationship, Obligation, and the Just Archives

Archival Virtue: Relationship, Obligation, and the Just Archives

Optimistic Fiction as a Tool for Ethical Reflection in STEM

Greater emphasis on ethical issues is needed in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The fiction for specific purposes (FSP) approach, using optimistic science fiction texts, offers a way to focus on ethical reflection that capitalizes on role models rather than negative examples. This article discusses the benefits of using FSP in STEM education more broadly, and then explains how using optimistic fictions in particular encourages students to think in ethically constructive ways. Using examples of science fiction texts with hopeful perspectives, example discussion questions are given to model how to help keep students focused on the ethical issues in a text. Sample writing prompts to elicit ethical reflection are also provided as models of how to guide students to contemplate and analyze ethical issues that are important in their field of study. The article concludes that the use of optimistic fictions, framed through the lens of professional ethics guidelines and reinforced through ethical reflection, can help students to have beneficial ethical models.

Reflective Practice in the Art and Science of Counselling: A Scoping Review

In the counselling profession, reflective practice is often touted as an essential characteristic of professional development, growth, and professionalism. Yet there remain countless characterisations of what reflective practice is and how best to do it. The aim of this scoping review was to evaluate over two decades of key reflective practice thinking, exploring its benefits, uses, and research findings in the 21st century. The scoping review process identified 47 peer-reviewed publications, seminal publications, and counselling guidelines, which included both quantitative (often seen as more “scientific”) and qualitative (seen as more “artistic”) research findings. The major themes identified in the reflective practice literature were: reflective purpose, reflective practice, reflective writing, quantitative versus qualitative rationale, therapeutic alliance and research results, reflecting practice in counselling, personal and professional development, counsellor self-care, and ethical guidelines.

Ethical challenges in the relationship between the pharmacist and patient in Iran

Purpose Based on the developmental process of pharmacy in medical relationships, it is essential to pay attention to ethical issues in this field and develop a good pharmacist–patient relationship. The present study aimed to mention the frequency of ethical challenges of pharmacy in Iran as a fundamental step towards designing a practical ethical guideline for professionals. Design/methodology/approach In this observational study, data were collected using a two-part questionnaire with 64 items developed after examining relevant texts and conducting unstructured interviews with pharmacy specialists. The first part determined the frequency of ethical challenges that the pharmacist confronts, using 43 short scenarios, whereas the second part comprised 21 questions with short answers. For validation, the questionnaire was sent to 20 medical ethics specialists who were familiar with issues in pharmacy ethics. Findings Data were collected from 48 members of the Iranian Association of Pharmacists (Working Group of Hospital Pharmacists). and the frequency of ethical challenges was determined. The most frequent issues were patient's request for over-the-counter drugs, asking about their lab results, asking drug for another person and returning the drug. Research limitations/implications One of the limitation of our study is its population, there were hospital pharmacist, other pharmacist such as community pharmacist may face different challenges. Practical implications The finding of this study could lead the policymakers to develop ethical guidelines for pharmacy practices. Social implications The pharmacist–patient relationship is one of the important aspects of health system, and therefore regulating this relationship based on the professional ethics guidelines could have a positive impact on therapeutic relationships. Originality/value Results showed that designing codes of ethics and practical guidelines based on the frequency of the noted challenges enhances the quality of treatment, improves the pharmacist–patient relationship, increases the level of cooperation and decreases patient complaints.

Judicial analytics and Australian courts: A call for national ethical guidelines

Judicial analytics is the use of data to monitor, understand and predict judicial behaviour. This is a global phenomenon and a cause for both celebration and concern. Given the unique role of courts and the potential for judicial analytics to undermine the rule of law, there is a need to review and revise the current inertia in the Australian regulatory approach to this issue. This article calls for the development of professional ethical guidelines for law and other disciplines, to assist and guide the creation and dissemination of predictive judicial analytics.

News Aggregator dan Nilai-Nilai Jurnalisme: Studi Penyajian Berita Pada Beritagar.Id

News aggregator is a new profession that emerges along with the abundance of information. This article aims to analyze the results of the work practices of the news aggregator whose roles are mostly held by journalists in Indonesia. The news aggregators who also work as journalists, have professional ethics guidelines in the corridor of the journalistic process where the journalistic code of ethics must be implemented, the elements of journalism need to be carried out, as well as the composition of news with information in accordance with 5W1H. This guideline becomes the concept of analyzing news content which in this study is focused on news content in beritagar.id. The results showed that the news aggregation office, in this case beritagar.id, ran a journalistic process according to journalism values. However, it is still not recognized as journalism since the principle of going to the field to collect data directly is important in the process of verifying journalistic product data. Interestingly, the results of this study indicate an increase in understanding of the journalistic process in media aggregators for senior journalists who began their careers in the mainstream media.

Knowledge and practice of informed consent by physiotherapists and therapy assistants in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa.

BackgroundInformed consent is a doctrinal prerequisite in accordance with the National Health Act 2003 and professional ethical guidelines. Current regulations stipulate that healthcare professionals obtain informed consent from patients prior to treatment. Misconduct charges relating to inadequate information disclosure have been recorded against South African physiotherapists.ObjectivesThis study evaluated knowledge and barriers to informed consent practice among physiotherapists and assistants at Ethekwini District public health institutions.MethodsThis cross-sectional study utilised self-administered questionnaires. Statistical Package for Social Sciences was used to analyse variables. Significance level and attitude correlation was determined using chi-squared tests, Pearson’s correlation and Spearman’s coefficient.ResultsForty-nine respondents (43 physiotherapists, 3 technicians, 3 assistants) completed this study. Mean age and professional experience of respondents were 38 and 14 years, respectively. The majority were female (93%); 56% spent 5 to 10 min obtaining informed consent, mostly verbally (89%); while 47% correctly identified age of consent to routine treatment (12 years). Information provided to patients by respondents included treatment benefits (100%), common risks (81%) and ‘all material risks’ (31%). Fifty per cent of respondents showed positive attitudes to informed consent.ConclusionsSome practising physiotherapists and assistants in KwaZulu-Natal public healthcare institutions had only partial knowledge of informed consent regulations and local laws. Barriers to informed consent included language and excessive workload.Clinical implicationsPatient-centred care is quality healthcare, and adequate informed consent knowledge improves clinical outcomes, respects patients’ dignity and autonomy. Continued professional education on healthcare law and ethics should be provided to practising physiotherapists and assistants.

The Role for a Large Scientific Society in Addressing Harassment and Work Climate Issues

The American Geophysical Union, a scientific society of some 60,000 members worldwide, established in 2011 a set of scientific integrity and professional ethics guidelines to address the actions of its members, the governance of the union in its internal activities, and the operations and participation in its publications, scientific meetings, including its honors and awards programs. However, these guidelines, like those for other societies, did not explicitly address harassment, related workplace issues, or implicit bias in the practice of science. The recent exposure of several issues related to the sciences caused AGU to reexamine its role and obligations. In a twelve-month period starting October 2015, more than six high profile cases of harassment in the sciences were publicly disclosed in the U.S., including one case that was brought to the attention of the U.S. Congress. A growing body of literature on harassment and other biases in the sciences, including data extracted and reported by AGU, has shed new light on this topic. As a result of this assessment, AGU now actively helps educate its members on Ethics issues in various ways, both broadly as well as specifically around items related to gender bias, harassment and other equity and inclusion topics. New and renewed members are specifically made aware of AGU’s ethics policies, and additional efforts are increasingly embedded across publications, awards, meetings, talent pool and other AGU member-focused programs. In addition, AGU is starting a program focused on addressing harassment and related work-climate matters in the Earth and Space Science community, with an emphasis on the growing need and proposed active roles for scientific societies.

How do you handle a colleague who regularly does not inform his or her patients of all needed treatment?

How do you handle a colleague who regularly does not inform his or her patients of all needed treatment?

On Being a Novice Forensic Evaluator: Reflections from Early Career Forensic Psychologists

Previous research has considered the psychologist’s professional transition from trainee to independent practitioner. However, this work has generally focused on the experiences of psychotherapists or general psychologists. The purpose of the current commentary is to reflect on the experiences of early professional forensic evaluators. This commentary addresses four specific areas including difficulties with adversarial allegiance, perceptions of professional competency, balancing responsibilities associated with “expert” status, and roadblocks to standard test administration and scoring. When applicable, we reference empirical literature and professional ethical guidelines. We also offer suggestions for coping with these experiences. We hope this commentary will normalize these experiences for other early career evaluators as well as aid graduate students’ transition into the independent evaluator role.