Ethical Considerations in Healthcare

Ethical Considerations in Healthcare

Healthcare workers have varying religions and spiritual beliefs. As a counsellor, I would face an ethical dilemma where a patient’s spiritual beliefs guide their healing journey. Suppose I meet a client whose solution to their problem is against my religion. In that case, I will be conflicted if I should allow the patient to pursue this decision or offer an alternative solution. This ethical dilemma is addressed in the Religious Freedom Bills and the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals Standard 10 (National Organization for Human Services, 2015). This ethical dilemma can be solved by referring the patient to another therapist or counsellor.

Therapy services require financial and economic support. Patients from low socioeconomic backgrounds experience financial constraints. Therapists in low socioeconomic regions meet several patients who need therapy but cannot afford it financially. I will be conflicted about offering free services to all economically disadvantaged patients or a selected few. This dilemma is addressed in the Ethical Standards for Human Service Professionals Standard 14 (National Organization for Human Services, 2015). Such an ethical dilemma is solved by therapists and counsellors understanding social issues affecting their patients. A therapist can refer patients to organizations that offer free therapy services.

An individual’s social class dictates their religion and spirituality. Patients from the upper class tend to worship in formal denominations, while those from the lower class tend to worship in informal denominations. Religious beliefs influence patients’ openness to therapy and their healing journey (Mandelkow et al., 2022). Human service professionals must understand a patient’s religion and spirituality for better outcomes. When a human service professional’s spirituality conflicts with a patient’s therapy, the professional must acknowledge that and refer the patient.

References

Mandelkow, L., Austad, A., & Freund, H. (2022). Stepping carefully on sacred ground: religion and spirituality in psychotherapy. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 24(3), 288-308.

National Organization for Human Services. (2015). Ethical standards for human professionals. https://www.nationalhumanservices.org/ethical-standards-for-hs-professionals

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This week, you will examine cultural competencies when working with people with different socioeconomic statuses or religious and spiritual beliefs. You will also investigate possible ethical dilemmas when working with these populations and how to overcome them.

Ethical Considerations in Healthcare

Before beginning work on this discussion forum,

Read Chapter 2 (only pp. 29–33) in your textbook.
Read The Value of Adapting Counseling to Client’s Spirituality and Religion: Evidence-Based Relationship Factors.
Select one of the codes of ethics from the following resources:
Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Links to an external site.)
NAADAC/NCC AP Code of Ethics (Links to an external site.)
NASW’s Code of Ethics: Read the Code of Ethics (Links to an external site.)
Ethical Standards for Human Services Professionals (Links to an external site.)
2014 ACA Code of Ethics (Links to an external site.)
Watch the following videos:

Barnes and…A Conversation With Dr. Donna Beegle (Links to an external site.)

The Impacts of Social Class: Crash Course Sociology #25 (Links to an external site.)

Edward R. Canda, Ph.D. – Spiritual Diversity in Social Work: The Heart of Helping (Links to an external site.)

In your initial discussion forum post,

Discuss at least one ethical or legal dilemma you could face when working with culturally diverse spirituals.
Discuss at least one ethical or legal dilemma you could face when working with culturally diverse socioeconomic.
Identify the ethical codes your dilemmas would address using one of the codes of ethics listed above.
Describe how you can resolve the ethical dilemma sensitively and appropriately.
Identify at least one new idea or concept you learned about spirituality and social class and how you will apply that to your work as a human service professional.
Use at least two scholarly or credible sources to support your responses. For help with this, review the Scholarly, Peer-Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) guide.

Discuss another way you can address each ethical dilemma your classmate presents and any other ethical standards you feel apply.