What are ethical considerations related to behavioral methods?

Answer 1

Ethical considerations are a set of guidelines and standards, which assist a behavioral therapist or other behavioral practitioners, to protect the rights of the individuals to whom they provide services. Following the end of WWII, the Nuremberg trials were conducted to assign guilty verdicts to Nazi officials held responsible for the inhuman treatment of concentration camp prisoners and other crimes. Among this group were those individuals who performed medical and psychological experiments on prisoners, leading to inhuman suffering, torture and death. Few of these prisoners survived their horrific treatments, many were children. One result of the trial, was the initiation of ethical standard of practise. These became the basis for the ethics used by the Psychology field , and was later adopted by behavioral sciences when this field was developed, today ABA commit to their own set of specific standards and guidelines, along with upholding the psychology ethics standards and guidelines. Examples of basic ethics include protection of a clients confidentiality, right to an effective treatment, use of only those treatments which have been scientifically proven, the right to stop treatments, among many other rights. The practitioner commits to ethics which prevent any harm, protect their client's privacy, assure the client is aware of their rights and many more. Ethics for behavioral analysis also include standards which are insured to advance their science and motivate other practitioners to adhere to all the ethics and standards or to report the misuse of behavioral analysis by a fellow practitioner. Ethics prevent harm of a client and protects their basic human rights. Some ethical guidelines include the mandatory educational and licensing qualifications for behavioral specialist in the field and are often separate of local state or institutional ethics. A behavior therapist who is not properly qualified to provide services, is breaking the law and the ethical guidelines and can lead to prison. Ethics is a critical component of a behavioral specialist training. A practitioners qualifications should always be reviewed by a client, before accepting services for themselves or their child. Standards of care and ethical guidelines are available to any one who wants to review them. A simple search on the web will provide this information. If you or a family member have been referred for behavioral services, do your homework, just as you would when searching for a family physician. Few behavioral practitioners are not qualified, but it can happen. Thanks, hope this helps a little.