BCBA Exam: Ethics/129
Questions and Answers/Verified
Ethics - -BEHAVIORS, PRACTICES, and DECISIONS that address 3
fundamental questions that guide how you conduct yourself to help
others improve their physical, social, psychological, familial, or personal
condition
-Question: Why is Ethics Important? - -To further the welfare of the
client
-3 Fundamental Questions of Ethical Practice - -1. What is the right
thing to do?
2. What is worth doing?
3. What does it mean to be a good behavior analyst?
-1. What is the right thing to do? - --Considerations related to cultural
practices: what may be acceptable in one culture is not in another
-Differences across time: what may have been acceptable 20 years ago
is not today
-Things to Help You Guide the Decision-Making Process - -1.
Professional Training and Experience
-Your training should influence the methods you use. The decision to opt
for Method A (e.g., differential reinforcement) or Method B (e.g.,
overcorrection) should be based on your clinical training, not your
personal history
-Your training as a behavior analyst should ALWAYS OVERRIDE your
personal history.
2. Personal History
-A personal history is your individual cultural, religious, or social
background. It should not influence your clinical decisions.
-Recognize that your personal history may lead to inappropriate
solutions (e.g., if a person was raised in a family that believed in "spare
the rod, spoil the child", that person may tend to be harsh with children)
-If you recognize that your personal history is impacting your clinical
decision-making, get help from supervisors, colleagues, and research. If
you cannot get the help or change your behavior, excuse yourself from
the case.
3. The Context of Practice
,-Refers to where you practice and the specific nature of job (e.g., at
home, at school, etc.)
-Determines what is legal vs. illegal, ethical vs. unethical
-Question: What is Legal, but Unethical? - -1. Breaking a professional
confidence.
2. Accepting valued heirlooms in lieu of payment.
3. Engaging in consensual sex with a client over the age of 18.
-Question: What is Both Illegal and Unethical? - -1. Misrepresenting
promised services or skills.
2. Stealing a client's belongings.
3. Abusing a client physically, emotionally, financially, socially, or
sexually.
4. Engaging in consensual sexual relations with persons under age 18.
-Question: What are Ethical Codes of Behavior? - --Guidelines that
specify what IS a violation.
-Guidelines for deciding a course of action or conducting professional
duties.
-Guidelines to help to discriminate between legal and ethical distinctions
making us more likely to:
-provide effective services
-maintain sensitivity towards clients
-not break the law or our professional
standards of conduct
-2. What is Worth Doing? - --Addresses the goals and objectives of
practice and forces us to ask the questions:
1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. How are we trying to accomplish it?
3. Is the objective socially valid?
4. What is the risk-benefit ratio?
-Social Validity - --When the results show meaningful, significant, and
sustainable change.
-When the goals, procedures, and results of an intervention are socially
acceptable to the client, the behavior analyst, and society.
-Not every skill has social validity (ex. teaching an adult with
developmental disabilities to play with children's coloring books is not
socially valid.
, -2 Ways to Assess Social Validity - -1. Social Comparison:
-Comparison of the performance of clients
exposed to the intervention with an
equivalent or "typically developing" group.
-Limitation: normative data may not be really
relevant for the client's functioning.
2. Subjective Evaluation of Experts:
-Evaluation of the client's performance by
experts who are very familiar with the client.
-Limitation: subjective evaluation of experts
may not tell us about the success of an
intervention.
-3. What Does it Mean to Be a Good Behavior Analyst? - -- Following
professional codes of conduct (BACB)
-Keeping client's welfare in your ideas
-A Good Practitioner is Self-Regulating - -Seeks ways to calibrate
decisions over time to ensure that values, contingencies, and rights and
responsibilities are integrated and an informed combination of these is
considered.
-3 Reasons Why We Abide By Ethics (MHS) - -1. M: Meaningful Change
-To produce meaningful behavior change of
social significance to the client
- Increase the likelihood of appropriate
services being rendered to individuals
2. H: Harm
-To reduce/eliminate harm (e.g., poor
treatments, SIB, etc.)
3. S: Standards
-To conform to the ethical standards of
learned societies and professional
organizations
-Question: What Are Professional Standards? - -(Standards is an
umbrella word for everything.)
-Standards are written guidelines that provide a direction for conducting
the practices associated with an organization.
-BACB - --Certifies individual practitioners
Questions and Answers/Verified
Ethics - -BEHAVIORS, PRACTICES, and DECISIONS that address 3
fundamental questions that guide how you conduct yourself to help
others improve their physical, social, psychological, familial, or personal
condition
-Question: Why is Ethics Important? - -To further the welfare of the
client
-3 Fundamental Questions of Ethical Practice - -1. What is the right
thing to do?
2. What is worth doing?
3. What does it mean to be a good behavior analyst?
-1. What is the right thing to do? - --Considerations related to cultural
practices: what may be acceptable in one culture is not in another
-Differences across time: what may have been acceptable 20 years ago
is not today
-Things to Help You Guide the Decision-Making Process - -1.
Professional Training and Experience
-Your training should influence the methods you use. The decision to opt
for Method A (e.g., differential reinforcement) or Method B (e.g.,
overcorrection) should be based on your clinical training, not your
personal history
-Your training as a behavior analyst should ALWAYS OVERRIDE your
personal history.
2. Personal History
-A personal history is your individual cultural, religious, or social
background. It should not influence your clinical decisions.
-Recognize that your personal history may lead to inappropriate
solutions (e.g., if a person was raised in a family that believed in "spare
the rod, spoil the child", that person may tend to be harsh with children)
-If you recognize that your personal history is impacting your clinical
decision-making, get help from supervisors, colleagues, and research. If
you cannot get the help or change your behavior, excuse yourself from
the case.
3. The Context of Practice
,-Refers to where you practice and the specific nature of job (e.g., at
home, at school, etc.)
-Determines what is legal vs. illegal, ethical vs. unethical
-Question: What is Legal, but Unethical? - -1. Breaking a professional
confidence.
2. Accepting valued heirlooms in lieu of payment.
3. Engaging in consensual sex with a client over the age of 18.
-Question: What is Both Illegal and Unethical? - -1. Misrepresenting
promised services or skills.
2. Stealing a client's belongings.
3. Abusing a client physically, emotionally, financially, socially, or
sexually.
4. Engaging in consensual sexual relations with persons under age 18.
-Question: What are Ethical Codes of Behavior? - --Guidelines that
specify what IS a violation.
-Guidelines for deciding a course of action or conducting professional
duties.
-Guidelines to help to discriminate between legal and ethical distinctions
making us more likely to:
-provide effective services
-maintain sensitivity towards clients
-not break the law or our professional
standards of conduct
-2. What is Worth Doing? - --Addresses the goals and objectives of
practice and forces us to ask the questions:
1. What are we trying to accomplish?
2. How are we trying to accomplish it?
3. Is the objective socially valid?
4. What is the risk-benefit ratio?
-Social Validity - --When the results show meaningful, significant, and
sustainable change.
-When the goals, procedures, and results of an intervention are socially
acceptable to the client, the behavior analyst, and society.
-Not every skill has social validity (ex. teaching an adult with
developmental disabilities to play with children's coloring books is not
socially valid.
, -2 Ways to Assess Social Validity - -1. Social Comparison:
-Comparison of the performance of clients
exposed to the intervention with an
equivalent or "typically developing" group.
-Limitation: normative data may not be really
relevant for the client's functioning.
2. Subjective Evaluation of Experts:
-Evaluation of the client's performance by
experts who are very familiar with the client.
-Limitation: subjective evaluation of experts
may not tell us about the success of an
intervention.
-3. What Does it Mean to Be a Good Behavior Analyst? - -- Following
professional codes of conduct (BACB)
-Keeping client's welfare in your ideas
-A Good Practitioner is Self-Regulating - -Seeks ways to calibrate
decisions over time to ensure that values, contingencies, and rights and
responsibilities are integrated and an informed combination of these is
considered.
-3 Reasons Why We Abide By Ethics (MHS) - -1. M: Meaningful Change
-To produce meaningful behavior change of
social significance to the client
- Increase the likelihood of appropriate
services being rendered to individuals
2. H: Harm
-To reduce/eliminate harm (e.g., poor
treatments, SIB, etc.)
3. S: Standards
-To conform to the ethical standards of
learned societies and professional
organizations
-Question: What Are Professional Standards? - -(Standards is an
umbrella word for everything.)
-Standards are written guidelines that provide a direction for conducting
the practices associated with an organization.
-BACB - --Certifies individual practitioners
