Play the Expert
Prior to beginning work on this discussion, please review the following websites, and read the following required articles:
- Ethical Decision Making (Links to an external site.)
- The Difference Between Deductive and Inductive Reasoning (Links to an external site.)
- ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (Links to an external site.)
- To Tell or Not to Tell: The Fine Line Between Minors’ Privacy and Others’ Right to Know (Links to an external site.)
Play the expert in the following scenario and apply ethical decision-making to your rationale and actions. Be mindful of section F in the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors (Links to an external site.) (p. 8):
When faced with an ethical dilemma, school counselors and school counseling program directors/supervisors use an ethical decision-making model such as Solutions to Ethical Problems in Schools (STEPS) (Stone, 2001):
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- Define the problem emotionally and intellectually
- Apply the ASCA Ethical Standards for School Counselors and the law
- Consider the students’ chronological and developmental levels
- Consider the setting, parental rights and minors’ rights
- Apply the ethical principles of beneficence, autonomy, nonmaleficence, loyalty and justice
- Determine potential courses of action and their consequences
- Evaluate the selected action
- Consult
- Implement the course of action
You are a school counselor at a rural high school. You have been counseling a student, and he confided in you that one of his friends has recently engaged in sexual relations with one of the teacher’s daughters. (She is a friend of yours.) He does not divulge the name of the other student and refuses to talk any further about the issue.
Address the following:
- What ethical considerations must be considered in this situation?
- How does confidentiality affect your considerations and actions?
- What options might you have to address the situation?
- Ethically, since this is hearsay, are you legally obligated to address?
- Using appropriate citations and references, explain how the empirical research, theoretical models, and ethical standards presented in the assigned resources suggest the importance of applying ethical decision-making strategies to scenarios such as these.