9-2 Final Project

Final Project Guidelines and Rubric.html

PSY 570 Final Project Guidelines and Rubric

Overview

The final project for this course is the creation of a case study analysis. The final project represents an authentic demonstration of competency. This competency is shown by the development of specific skill sets including: case study identification, understanding ethical conflict in a psychology-related work settings, increased knowledge in the origin and rationale for ethics orientation in the psychology profession, specific knowledge of the core ethical principles that govern professional behavior, an overview of specific standards as they apply to sub-specialties in psychology, a practical model for ethical decision making, and consideration of alternative decision-making models. The project is divided into four milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules One, Three, Five, and Seven. The final project will be submitted in Module Nine.

By understanding the ethical principles of the psychology profession, you will learn how to inform your decision making when it comes to protecting and serving the populations we serve. It is also important that the contemporary psychologist be able to address issues that are unique to our time. Some of these challenges ask us to reconsider ethical frameworks and to be more precise in the language we use to define ethical decision making. This course allows you to explore and apply important ethical concepts to potential situations. These skills are essential for proper behavior in the psychology profession. This assessment addresses the following course outcomes:

• Assess the impact of the current and emerging ethical codes on the practice of psychology for their influence in developing ethical decision-making strategies
• Assess the influence of culture and social orientations on the development and practice of ethical standards of conduct for consideration when developing ethical strategies
• Distinguish between ethically supported and ethically unsupported strategies for resolving ethical dilemmas in practice
• Develop strategies for incorporating empathy for diverse perspectives into ethically responsible practices
• Develop strategies for evaluating and resolving ethical dilemmas that integrate ethical decision-making models

Prompt

The summative assignment for this course is a case study analysis. The case study is one way for you to showcase the skill sets you have learned in this course coupled with your area of professional interest. You will choose a case study from a pre-determined list. You should choose a case study that is relevant to your concentration and/or a particular career field in which you are interested in working. You will utilize codes of ethics pertinent to your chosen area of interest in psychology to approach this case study analysis. You will develop an ethical strategy for addressing the ethical issues present in your case study and analyze your strategy for how it relates to important ethical concepts in psychology. Your case study choice, including the ethical conflict in the case study will be submitted once for peer and instructor review, and then be resubmitted as a developing case study analysis following feedback that incorporates suggestions.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Introduction: For this part of the assessment, begin your case study analysis by examining the many factors that influence codes of ethics in psychology.
   1. Summarize the chosen case study. Be sure to include the important people and key interactions in the case study. This will be used later in your analysis.
   2. Assess culture and social orientation and their influence on ethical behavior and the existing codes of conduct. Be sure to provide examples to support your claims.
   3. Assess how interactions between the important roles (client, psychologist, researcher, participant, etc.) in psychology are influenced by culture and social orientation and how that influence informs ethical conduct in psychology.
   4. When making ethical decisions in your chosen area of concentration, how would you go about deciding whether or not an ethical strategy is supported or unsupported? In other words, what criteria should professionals in your selected concentration or area of interest use to determine which opinions on ethics to consider in shaping their response to the particular situation?
   5. How do contemporary problems impact the need for reconsidering supported opinions on ethics in your concentration or chosen area of interest in psychology? Be sure to provide examples to support your claims.
2. Ethical Analysis: For this part of the assessment, use the Eight Step Ethical Decision-Making Model to show how you would resolve the conflicts or ethical issues in your case study.
   1. Describe the ethical issues in your chosen ethical scenario and relate the issues to the important people identified previously. You might consider the following: What are the questions you wish to answer and the ethical issue that must be addressed?
   2. Develop an ethical strategy using an Eight Step analysis to address the ethical issues and which could be applied to the chosen scenario. Be sure to explain how your ethical strategy follows supported ethical guidelines. You might consider the following: What series of steps would you take to address the issue? What ethical principles and standards inform this strategy?
   3. Assess how your strategy differs with an opposing ethical strategy that could be used to address this situation and justify why your strategy would be more preferable. Be sure to explain whether or not the opposing strategy follows supported ethical guidelines. You might consider the following: What other principles or standards could be implemented? What counter arguments may arise in response to your strategy? How would you answer them?
   4. Assess your strategy for how it addresses ethical problems associated with multiple role relationship issues. You might consider the following: Does your strategy consider the appropriateness of the different relationships psychologists can have with clients?
   5. Assess your strategy for how it addresses ethical problems associated with multicultural competence issues. You might consider the following: Does your strategy consider issues of diversity and culture with regard to your chosen ethical issue?
   6. Assess your strategy for your chosen ethical scenario for how it aligns with current and emerging ethical codes in your chosen area of interest on the practice of psychology in your concentration or area of interest. You might consider the following: How does your strategy follow more modern opinions on ethics? How does your strategy reflect that ethics in psychology is not stagnant?
3. Conclusion: For this part of the assessment, develop a conclusion explaining the different influences on your own strategy. Be sure to incorporate peer and instructor feedback you have received in order to properly reflect on your strategy.
   1. Explain the influence of culture and social orientation on the development of your ethical strategy. You might consider the following: What cultural implications did you feel you had to consider when developing your strategy?
   2. Explain the influence of diversity and equality on the development of your ethical strategy. You might consider the following: What issues of diversity and equality were in the ethical scenario, and how were they addressed? How did this influence your thought process and decisions while developing your ethical strategy?
   3. Explain how controversial issues in ethics have shaped emerging ideas in ethics. Be sure to provide your thoughts on this and how the development of your strategy was or was not influenced by controversial issues. You might consider the following: Did you follow a strictly traditional model, or did you use a more modern approach? How did this influence your thought process and decisions while developing your ethical strategy?
   4. Explain how your strategy could be changed to further address issues of multiple role relationships and justify your claims. In what ways does your strategy lack in its consideration of multiple role relationships?
   5. Explain how your strategy could be changed to further address issues of multicultural competence and justify your claims. In what ways does your strategy lack in its consideration of multicultural competence?
   6. Develop a conclusion summarizing your ethical strategy and how you believe it could be implemented to solve the chosen ethical scenario.

Milestones

Milestone One: Case Study Selection In Module One, you will select a case study in your area of interest to analyze for your final project, the Case Study Analysis. In the Case Study Selection discussion, you will identify your selected case study, describe your interest in the case, and identify the central ethical conflict. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone One Rubric.

Milestone Two: Case Study Analysis Outline In Module Three, you will identify the ethical conflict in the case study and produce an outline of your final case study analysis using a template provided. You addressed the first four elements (title page, case study abstract, detailed case study description, and ethical conflict) in Milestone One and will add more details in this milestone. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Two Rubric.

Milestone Three: Applying the APA Code of Ethics Five Principles and Exploring Ethical Standards In Module Five, you will go back to your outline and explain the five general guiding ethical principles found within the APA Code of Ethics. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Three Rubric.

Milestone Four: The Ethical Decision-Making Process, Alternative Considerations, Diversity Issues, and Multiple role Relationships In Module Seven, you will list the eight-step ethical decision-making model, discuss an alternative or opposing model of decision-making, and put your case study conflict through the eight-step model. This milestone will be graded with the Milestone Four Rubric.

Final Submission: Case Study Analysis In Module Nine, you will submit your final project. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final project. It should incorporate feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with the Final Project Rubric.

What to Submit

The case study analysis paper should be 8–10 pages, double-spaced, using 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and discipline-appropriate APA citations.

Final Project Rubric

Module Overview19.html

Contemporary Ethics Topics and Human Rights

A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world.

—Albert Camus

Figure 9.1 (wyndhamworldwide.com)

We study ethics in order to integrate our understanding of personal and professional morality as applied to serving people in specific settings such as counseling, research, consulting, teaching, and advising.

Module Nine explores two main themes. We take a look at technological advances and ponder our ethical stance on the future-based ability to engineer morality and other behaviors. Can or should we attempt to change the way people are? Is this at the core of what psychology is about? Additionally, we will take a look at the risks involved in being a professional in the field of psychology. There are very real risks associated with working in the field of psychology. There are personal risks that come by way of compassion fatigue, burnout, and secondary posttraumatic stress. Psychologists can be stalked, assaulted, and murdered. There are professional risks such as loss of a license to practice. And, there are combinations of risks that affect the psychologist, personally and professionally, such as malpractice lawsuits.

Let’s take a look at some examples of advances that began with an innovative thought. Keep in mind that many ethical mistakes began with a great idea. Those great ideas garnered support and in no time the energy to finish a pursuit overrode the potential perils to human beings or other animals. We seek innovation, we aspire toward greatness, and yet we must consider all ethical ramifications over innovation, prestige, status, and greatness. Take the case of the atomic bomb dropped by the United States on Hiroshima, Japan during World War II. Many of you are likely familiar with the Manhattan Project. Albert Einstein (from Nazi Germany) and Enrico Fermi (from Fascist Italy) were two scientists who fled their countries of origin. They were aware of the development of atomic technology in Germany and feared the Germans would bring the atomic bomb into fruition. After migrating to the United States, they and others worked in a think tank that was collectively referred to as the Manhattan Project. In time the atomic bomb, by way of the innovation of nuclear fission, became a viable and dangerous weapon. Einstein later regretted steps he took toward the development of the bomb, indicating that he would not have let the United States know of preliminary atomic technology had he known a bomb would be developed and used for the destruction of people. Sometimes innovation in technology, although a brilliant step for science, becomes a stain on humanity and ethical choice.

Behavioral Therapy

The beginning of behavioral therapy involved what was known as behavioral modification. In order to extinguish an unwanted behavior in a human being, there were steps taken therapeutically to effect change. These included positive and negative reinforcement and the presence of punishment. This punishment could assume the form of restraints, electric shock, ridicule, and denial of basic needs. Behavioral modification has evolved since its origin around 1911 and is now the cornerstone of popular cognitive behavioral therapies. In the beginning, however, behavioral therapy was highly controversial. Some examples of historical and contemporary ethical controversy resulting from this therapy include:

• Sexual aversion therapy was developed for use with homosexuals. It was determined to be dangerous and yet was used until the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) removed homosexuality as a disorder in 1974. This 1973 APA position statement discusses the DSM II and homosexuality.
• Aversion therapy was and is still used with children and teens labeled as sexually deviant. Methods such as olfactory aversion, which involves smelling noxious scents such as ammonia, were popular forms of treatment. Skim through this 1970 research abstract and this 2012 research abstract and note the use of electrical aversion therapy in each study.
• Shock collars were developed for use with dogs to teach obedience to commands. Animal-rights groups have protested this form of control as well as choke collars. There have been instances of parents abusing children by placing the dog-designed shock collars on them. This Huffington Post article provides a short history of how shock collars have been used on humans.

Technological Advances and Medicine

In medicine, the development of the drug Antabuse was seen as a miracle for the treatment of alcoholism as an addiction. If an individual drinks alcohol while on Antabuse, he or she will become violently ill. A link to a 1970 journal article on alcohol aversion therapy is provided. Notice the cavalier attitude about the use of harm and aversion. Antabuse is still being used today for the treatment of alcoholism.

Shock aversion therapy was developed for use with pedophiles and anyone who was determined to be a sexual deviant. Throughout time, the definition of who is a sexual deviant has changed. Herein lies one of the problems. The penile plethysmograph was developed as a device that fits over the penis. The “offending clients” would be shown images of a pornographic nature. If they became aroused, it became grounds for belief the deviant would engage in re-offending behavior.

Political and Governmental

Interrogation and torture of detainees in jails, prisons, and at the Guantanamo Bay detention center make for shocking news. The rationale often used, which does not follow the eight-step model we discuss in this course, is that hurting a few in order to protect thousands justifies the inhumane treatment.

In summary, we will continue to consider what new technologies have to offer our field. Our job as psychologists is to stay current in developments in our field and allied fields. We welcome innovation, but not at the cost of eroding our ethical beliefs or our moral compass. It is an honor and challenge to work within the field of psychology. It is a profession that offers hope, brings inspiration, and creates trust and healing. It is also a field of work where any significant misstep can have enormous human ramifications. Lives can become altered, lives may be lost, suffering can be counted by emotional scars, and generations later necessary healing may not have taken place. You are encouraged to go forward with mindfulness as you consider your professional and personal choices, while also considering the choices of others.