Ethical principles and code

Aside from general ethical principles and code of conduct, there are four main ethical issues that specifically relate to clinical psychology research. These are:

1. Informed consent.
2. Avoidance of harm.
3. Privacy.
4. Review by the academic ethics committee and/or governing health authority or hospital ethics committee.

Consider the following cases and explain how these four issues relate to each situation.

1. A psychologist wants to study how positive reinforcement could help reduce the amount of night-time shouting by patients with dementia who are staying in a hospital unit.

What ethical questions do you have for the researcher?

1. Informed consent. 2 marks
2. Avoidance of harm. 2 marks
3. Privacy. 2 marks
4. Review by the academic ethics committee; recommendation? 2 marks
5. A psychologist wants to carry out a survey amongst mothers attending vaccination appointments with their new-born babies, to assess levels and prevalence of post-partum depression.

What ethical questions should she consider?

1. Informed consent. 2 marks
2. Avoidance of harm. 2 marks
3. Privacy. 2 marks
4. Review by the academic ethics committee; recommendation? 2 marks
5. A psychologist wants to survey teenagers at a local school to assess levels of social anxiety.
   What ethical considerations would you think about to advise her?
6. Informed consent. 2 marks
7. Avoidance of harm. 2 marks
8. Privacy. 2 marks
9. Review by the academic ethics committee; recommendation? 2 marks

Sample Solution