PSY 699 Week 1 Reply to Tracy Davis Post Technology and Psychology Professionals
PSY 699 Week 1 Reply to Tracy Davis Post Technology and Psychology Professionals
Topic: PSY 699 Week 1 Reply to Tracy Davis Post Technology and Psychology Professionals
Details: What potential ethical considerations are missing from your colleague’s post? What issues did you consider that your colleague did not? How are these issues important to the quality of services provided by a psychological professional? Were your colleague’s arguments effective? Did your colleague cite appropriate research to support the statements he or she provided? What suggestions might you make to your colleague to strengthen his or her claims? (SEE TRACY’S POST BELOW)
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Tracy Davis Post Week 1 Discussion Technology and Psychology Professionals
Considering the growth of the internet, psychology professionals can now be able to serve more clients. The patients do not have to travel all the way to the hospital or counseling center to consult with the physician. There are mobile apps and website platforms that enable online communication and interaction. Social media platforms are also part of these changes. However, these technologies increase the risk of experiencing ethical dilemmas as they relate to client data privacy, confidentiality, and the art of informed consent. Some of these principles are overlooked during the online sessions. Again, psychology professionals sometimes cross boundaries by searching for more details about their clients on the internet without their knowledge (Clinton, Silverman, & Brendel, 2010). The information might be misleading or outdated. In this case, the professionals might generate a negative report about the client hence altering the entire treatment process (DiLillo, & Gale, 2011). However, as technology improves, there are more chances of reducing these challenges and hence make the online interaction more productive with regards to patient-based care.
The APA ethical principles can be used to guide the application of these technologies. For example, principle 4.01 Maintaining Confidentiality requires that professionals maintain the confidentiality of patient data. The case should apply even when working online. Again, when using technological devices, psychologists should ensure that any form of recording should be done after obtaining the client’s informed consent as required by principle 4.03 Recording of the APA regulations. Based on principle 10.01 Informed Consent to Therapy, there should be online awareness programs that should be conducted prior to the therapy sessions (American Psychological Association, 2010). The programs should ensure that clients familiarize themselves with the session requirements before the real treatment phase. Based on principle, 6.02 Maintenance, Dissemination, and Disposal of Confidential Records, the storage and sharing of patient data should apply techniques that uphold confidentiality.
The technological shifts are likely to influence the trends in psychological research and practice. For example, finding information is now easier in that there are a lot of research projects published online. Again, professionals can now collaborate and share information using mobile technologies such as video conferencing to enhance the patient experience. The technologies also make it easy to connect with participants from all over the world hence diversifying the results obtained. On the education front, clients can now access free online information related to their conditions before they make choices on the type of professional to consult.
A potential work setting where these technologies seem more useful is the remote regions. Clients do not have to dress up, beat traffic, and the long hospital queues to receive care. A good number of services are now a click away. Again, clients can consult at the comfort of their homes and offices. Psychology professionals are expected to learn how to use the technologies and some of the challenges they are likely to face while applying them in their work (Kolmes, 2012). The benefits of these technologies outweigh the negative outcomes; hence psychology professionals should consider using them more. The ability to engage, interact, market, and seek care using technology has made life easy for both patients and psychologists. The possible challenges such as breaches or APA principles can be overcome through user education.
References
American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct: Including 2010 amendments. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/
Clinton, B. K., Silverman, B.C., & Brendel, D. H. (2010). Patient-targeted Googling: The ethics of searching online for patient information. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 18(2),103–112. doi:10.3109/10673221003683861.
DiLillo, D., & Gale, E. B. (2011). To Google or not to Google: Graduate students’ use of the Internet to access personal information about clients. Training and Education in Professional Psychology, 5(3), 160–166. doi:10.1037/a0024441
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