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BCBA Ethical Issues

BCBA Ethical Issues

First, the fact that Alita is expected to start a functional behavior assessment for a new client without involving the important parties brings up the ethical issue of accountability. According to ethical standards Section 1 on Responsibility as a Professional 1.03 Accountability, behavior analysts are expected to take all responsible actions in the best interests of the clients and all parties considered relevant (BACB, 2020). In this scenario, the parents of the new client are relevant parties, yet Alita’s manager does not want Alita to involve them. This may compromise Alita’s ethical standards as a behavioral analyst professional. Moreover, under Section 2- Responsibility in Practice code 2.08 communicating about services, Alita must clearly let the scope of their services be known to the client and involved parties and also state to them the conditions under which their services will be terminated (BACB, 2020). If this does not happen, the new client’s parents may, for example, wonder why the services to their child were suddenly terminated without their knowledge, even if they are not the funders of the service.

Code 2.09, which involves clients and stakeholders, also stipulates involving the relevant stakeholders and clients throughout the relationship of services, such as goal sections, choosing and designing of the interventions and assessments, and monitoring (BACB, 2020). If Alita follows the manager’s advice, she will violate this ethical code. Additionally, in code 2.11, obtaining informed consent, behavior analysts must know and comply with the circumstances under which they need to get informed consent from relevant parties (BACB, 2020). Such conditions may be before the start of the implementation of service assessment, change interventions, and when substantial changes are made to the intervention. In this case, Alita should seek consent before starting the assessment.

Having understood that the ethical issue is covered in the BACB, Alita needs to go through the seven steps proposed by Bailey & Burch (2016). These include determining whether the scenario is in the ethics code, whether she has the skills and strengths to deal with the individuals involved in the incident, if she has contingency plans, if she is aware of the manager’s conduct if she can defend the client’s rights in front of the manager, and if she has the influence and power to change the situation. She can then evaluate the risks surrounding the scenario and decide on the best plan to take as she has evaluated.

References

BACB (2020). Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. https://bacb.com/wp-content/ethics-code-for-behavior-analysts/

Bailey. J.S. & Burch, M.R. (2016). Ethics for Behavior Analysts, 3rd Edition. New York: Routledge.

D 225

Section 3 explains your professional responsibilities to your profession. You are expected to be honest and reliable, to practice integrity and trustworthiness, attributes that protect your clients, your profession, and you. You are required only to use behavior intervention approaches supported by behavior analytic research and only accept clients whose target behaviors are commensurate with your training and experience. Maintaining and adding to your expertise by keeping up with the latest research in your field is required to provide your clients with the care they deserve. You must always treat your clients and their families with dignity and respect.

Section 3 also outlines your responsibility to your clients to provide individualized, research-based, effective behavior-analytic treatment. If a third party requests your services, you must identify the primary beneficiary of your services. Further, the codes of Section 2 guide professional and ethical conduct regarding the rights and prerogatives of clients, maintaining confidentiality, issues related to contracts,

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Question 


fees, and financial arrangements; accuracy in billing, referrals, and interrupting or discontinuing services.
Scenario

BCaBA Handbook and Fieldwork Requirements

BCaBA Handbook and Fieldwork Requirements

Alita is a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA) working for a large company that contracts with multiple school districts to provide behavior analytic services for their students. Prior to leaving the office to work with one of her young clients, the manager assigned her another student at the same school. Alita was directed to conduct a functional behavior assessment (FBA) and design a function-based behavior intervention plan (BIP) for the new client. Alita was happy to schedule the FBA as soon as possible but stated that she would first meet with the parents and, explain the process, and obtain informed consent to begin. Her manager told her that it was unnecessary since the school district was paying her for her services, and the principal requested behavior services.

Discussion

Discuss the relevant ethical issues in this scenario. Identify all of the applicable codes by number and explain why each is relevant in the case. Utilize only the codes covered in the Unit 4 Reading. What must Alita do to remain in compliance with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BACB’s) ethical codes?