Importance Of Vignette

Principle III focuses on integrity in relationships and is the most ethically relevant principle. Its value statement proposes that psychologists will “act in the best interest of members of the public, situations that present real or potential conflicts of interest are of concern to psychologists” (p. 22). Five standards can be directly applied to the vignette. The psychologist needs to weigh the risks and benefits in the context of her specific situation. She needs to decide whether or not to enter into a relationship with the client’s father and manage the relationship through establishing safeguards. It is at this point the psychologist would need to “fully explain reasons for their actions to persons who have been affected by their actions, if appropriate and …show more content…
It is not clear whether the psychologist and the client’s father would cross paths again. However, there may not be anyone else to see the boy and the psychologist may be forced to manage the dual relationships due to unavoidable circumstances. As mentioned in Code in some situations a dual or multiple relationships might be inevitable or culturally expected (e.g., in rural, indigenous, or immigrant communities) (Canadian Psychological Association, 2000). If that is the case in the vignette, Should the psychologists decide to explore the idea of managing a dual relationship, the psychologists may need to take extra precautions such as obtaining supervision or consultation for the duration of the therapy with the child to reduce biases (Standard III.34). The psychologist needs to inform the client’s father that seeing him for personal gains is a real conflict of interest, may impact the welfare of his child, and their therapeutic relationship (Standard III. 35). However, in the vignette, the psychologists did not take all reasonable steps to resolve the conflict of interest in a manner consistent with Principle I and Principle