Ethical standards in clinical psychology; Maintaining integrity, record keeping and confidentiality.

Abstract

Clinical psychologists aim to promote psychological wellbeing and reduce psychological distress in people with mental or physical health illness (National Health Service [NHS], 2014). A requirement of all clinical psychologists is to be familiar with and adhere to the ethical codes that govern their profession: the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) standards of conduct, performance and ethics (HCPC, 2012a) and the British Psychological Society’s (BPS) code of ethics and conduct (BPS, 2009). Ethical standards relating to record keeping, confidentiality, integrity and honesty were considered in this paper. The effects of poor interpersonal relationships between a team and the impact of personal issues upon professional practice were considered as contributors to the breaching of ethical standards. To help prevent an ethical dilemma escalating, an employee performance appraisal in the form of a six-question intervention tool was created, to provide appropriate support when conducting supervisions. Directions for future research are discussed in terms of investigating support available for personal and professional issues affecting the work of a clinical psychologist.