Group Consent and Confidentiality
Factors to Consider When Protecting the Welfare of a Client in Situations Where There Is More Than One Person in The Therapeutic Encounter
Counselling and psychotherapy involve the commitment of a physician to minimize the suffering of the patient, and to do this, the therapist needs to gain the patient’s trust. Without trust, then, the patient-therapist relationship is put at risk. One of the main ways of gaining this trust is for the therapist to ensure the patient’s information is kept confidential at all times. Whatever the patient discloses to the therapist should and ought to remain confidential (Lasky & Riva, 2006). Whenever other parties are to be involved in the therapy sessions, the therapist needs to first put the client’s welfare into consideration. Do you need help with your assignment ? Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com.
The therapist is also tasked with making ethical decisions when caring for the patient. The best interest of the patient must be the foundation that informs these decisions. In making these decisions, the therapist will need to be guided by the ethical principles of autonomy and fidelity. Autonomy is that the patient has the right to refuse treatment, the right to allow other third parties to the therapy session, and the right to terminate the patient-physician relationship (Burkemper, 2002). Fidelity calls for the therapist to be honest about the process of treatment and inform the patient of reasonable expectations. The therapist should not give unrealistic expectations, and neither shall the therapist encourage unrealistic prospects from the patient.
When including other parties, the therapist will need to give the patient reassurance that their information will be confidential. The patient will need to agree to have the other persons involved. The therapist will protect client confidentiality by not acknowledging client appointments to outside parties, not discussing the therapy contents with a third party without the client’s explicit permission (Burkemper, 2002), and not leaving information that is revealing on text or voicemail.
What are steps that must be taken in advising all parties about their role, their records, the limits of confidentiality, and informed consent?
When a patient agrees for other persons to be involved in the therapy sessions, then the participants will need to be informed of their obligations. Firstly, the participants will need to sign a binding document stating that they will keep the content discussed in the therapy sessions confidential and not disclose it to third parties (Parsons & Dickinson, 2016). The participants will also be made aware that contravening the agreement would result in legal action taken against them. Additionally, the participants will need to be aware that the patient has the right to autonomy, which they, as participants, will need to honour. The therapist will also need to take informed consent from the participant and the patient as well. Ross et al. (2010) cite that ‘both individual and group risks should be discussed with prospective individual participants so that they can make a voluntary and informed decision about whether to participate. Hence, the therapist should ensure that all participants are aware of the benefits and risks prior to engaging in the therapy exercise. The Joint Commission requires that all the elements of informed consent be documented. These elements include the nature of the therapy, the benefits and risks of the therapy, and reasonable alternatives. The benefits and risks of the alternative; and assessing whether the patient understands elements 1-4. In signing the informed consent, the therapist will need to ensure that the patient and the participants understand the information in the consent form and welcome them to ask any questions if they do not understand any aspects of the agreement (Parsons & Dickinson, 2016).
References
Burkemper, E. M. (2002). Family Therapists’ Ethical Decision‐Making Processes In Two Duty‐To‐Warn Situations. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 28(2), 203-211.
Lasky, G. B., & Riva, M. T. (2006). Confidentiality and privileged communication in group psychotherapy. International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 56(4), 455-476.
Parsons, R. D., & Dickinson, K. L. (2016). Ethical practice in the human services: From knowing to being. SAGE Publications.
Ross, L. F., Loup, A., Nelson, R. M., Botkin, J. R., Kost, R., Smith Jr, G. R., & Gehlert, S. (2010). Nine key functions for a human subjects protection program for community-engaged research: Points to consider. Journal of Empirical Research on Human Research Ethics, 5(1), 33-47.
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Question 
Group Consent and Confidentiality
In situations where there is more than one “identified client”—such as when conducting therapy sessions for couples, families, or groups, there are special considerations for defining the client, the limits of confidentiality, and documentation practices.
In your initial post, discuss the factors to consider when protecting the welfare of a client in situations where there is more than one person in the therapeutic encounter. What steps must be taken when advising all parties about their role, their records, the limits of confidentiality, and informed consent? Cite examples from the course textbook or your experience to illustrate how a counsellor might manage consent and confidentiality in a family or group setting.