Ethical, Social, and Legal Implications of Disclosure

Prior to beginning work on this discussion, be sure to read the required articles for this week. .

You are a consulting psychologist for a local clinic and have been asked to review an ethically complex case. Please review the PSY699 Week four discussion case file (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. for detailed information on the case under review. FILE IS ATTACHED BELOW

In your initial post, explain how the APA Ethical Principles and Code of Conduct can be used to guide decisions in this ethically complex situation. Provide a suggested course of action for the clinic staff. Given the daughter’s age and the situation presented, integrate concepts developed from different psychological content domains to support your suggested course of action. Be certain to use evidence-based psychological concepts and theories to support your arguments. You may wish to consider the following questions as you construct your post.

• Does the daughter have a right to know her diagnosis?
• Does the mother have a right to not disclose the diagnosis to her daughter?
• Does the mother have a right to privacy regarding her own diagnosis, which could be threatened if her daughter learns of her own status?
• Should the staff tell the daughter if the mother does not want her to know?
• If the daughter wants to know more about her condition, what should the staff say?
• Are there other approaches the staff can take? If so, what are they?
• Is further information required in order for you to create an ethically sound suggested course of action?

 Require reading

American Psychological Association. (2010). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct: Including 2010 amendments (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/ethics/code/index.aspx

• This document outlines a series of ethical standards, guidelines, and aspirational goals to guide psychologists.

Aultman, J. M. & Borges, N. J. (2011). The ethics of HIV testing and disclosure for healthcare professionals: What do our future doctors think? Medical Teacher, 33(1), e50-56. doi: 10.3109/0142159X.2011.530311

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This study examined future medical professionals’ beliefs and attitudes regarding mandatory HIV testing and disclosure.

Bird, J. D. P., Fingerhut, D. D., & McKirnan, D. J. (2011). Ethnic differences in HIV-disclosure and sexual risk. AIDS Care, 23(4), 444-448. doi: 10.1080/09540121.2010.507757

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article explores ethnic differences in HIV-disclosure to sexual partners and the relationship between HIV-disclosure and sexual risk.

Edwards, L. L., Reis, J. S., & Weber, K. M. (2013). Facilitators and barriers to discussing HIV prevention with adolescents: Perspectives of HIV-infected parents. American Journal of Public Health, 103(8), 1468-1475.  doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.301111

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article examines HIV-infected parents’ conversations about HIV prevention with their uninfected children, including what facilitated or hindered communication.

Heeren, G. A. (2011). Changing methods of disclosure: Literature review of disclosure to children with terminal illnesses, including HIV. Innovation – The European Journal of Social Science Research, 24(1-2), 199-208. doi: 10.1080/13511610.2011.553506

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article provides a review of the literature on methods of disclosure to children with terminal illnesses.

Maiorana, A., Koester, K. A., Myers, J. J., Lloyd, K. C., Shade, S. B., Dawson-Rose, C., & Morin, S. F. (2012). Helping patients talk about HIV: Inclusion of messages on disclosure in prevention with positive interventions in clinical settings. AIDS Education and Prevention, 24(2), 179–192. doi: 10.1521/aeap.16.5.459.48741

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. The authors of this article examined patients’ self-reports regarding disclosure messages they found relevant as part of prevention efforts in clinical settings.

Nam, S. L., Fielding, K., Avalos, A., Gaolathe, T., Dickinson, D., & Geissler, P. W. (2009). Discussing matters of sexual health with children: What issues relating to disclosure of parental HIV status reveal. AIDS Care, 21(3), 389-395. doi: 10.1080/09540120802270276

• The full-text version of this article can be accessed through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article explores issues pertaining to the disclosure of parents’ own HIV status to their children in Africa.