Ethics final exam

Within the counseling profession, the primary goal of counseling is to:

help clients achieve wellness.

Counselors who practice from a developmental perspective:

view most problems people encounter as natural and normal since all developmental stages of life bring challenges.

Counseling aims to help clients:

be empowered to problem-solve independently.

Within the counseling profession, the primary national voluntary certification agency is:

National Board for Certified Counselors

The school counseling movement in the United States resulted as a consequence of which major event?

the Russians launching Sputnik.

All of the following are steps toward professionalization EXCEPT:

offering services that are identical to services offered by other similar professions.

The most significant problem within the counseling profession today, according to the authors of the text, appears to be:

becoming a united and societally-recognized profession.

Certification is a process:

through which official state agencies certify individuals as qualified to hold certain state jobs.

All of the following statements about advertising one's services in an ethical manner are true, EXCEPT:

the ACA Code of Ethics imposes strict criteria and restrictions on advertising.

Professionalism in counseling includes all of the following EXCEPT:

holding a doctorate in counseling or a related field.

A fundamental tenet of the wellness model is that:

mental health exists along a continuum.

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP):

has been generally accepted as the model curriculum for training counselors.

The primary difference between counselors and other mental health professionals is:

counseling is the primary professional service that counselors provide.

The term "culturally encapsulated counselor" refers to a counselor who:

defines reality according to one set of cultural assumptions and fails to evaluate other viewpoints, which renders the counselor insensitive to cultural variations.

When counseling a client from a racial, ethnic, or cultural group different from the counselor's, it is important for the counselor to remember that:

although certain groups share similar traits or beliefs, each individual is unique and may not be like most others from his or her group.

The most important resource for counselors to use in learning about different racial, ethnic, or cultural groups is:

their clients.

Multicultural considerations were not given extensive attention in the ACA Code of Ethics until:

the fifth version adopted in 1995.

A counselor learns their client may have been illegally discriminated against, the counselor should:

help the client determine whether or not to seek legal advice.

To be effective when counseling clients with physical disabilities, counselors should:

focus on the clients' abilities rather than limitations.

As advocates, counselors are aware that:

clients' mental health is affected by their experiences of discrimination and marginalization.

Because clients may have emergencies between counseling sessions, it is usually wise for counselors to

instruct clients to call a 24-hour mental health hotline number or report to a hospital emergency room.

It is ethically permissible for counselors to terminate a counseling relationship for all of the following reasons EXCEPT:

the client experiences a crisis.

Because counselors have a fiduciary relationship with their clients, counselors must:

protect the best interests of their clients and not benefit inappropriately from the counselor-client relationship.

It is vital for counselors to become aware of their own personal needs and values so that they:

can avoid getting their own personal needs met through their counseling relationships.

When involuntary clients are required to sign documents waiving their privacy before beginning counseling sessions,

counselors should carefully explain to clients the limits of their privacy within the counseling relationship.

The Informed Consent documents that clients sign before counseling sessions begin:

are a good way to inform clients of their rights and responsibilities and are required by some federal rules and state laws.

To avoid being sued by a client for abandonment, counselors are advised to

give the client adequate notice that the counselor is terminating the counseling relationship.

Privileged communication statutes:

protect clients from having confidential communications with their counselors disclosed in a court of law without their permission.

Breaches of client confidentiality by counselors:

occur rarely and, when they do occur, usually are inadvertent.

When the client is deceased and there is no statutory language dealing with privilege and the death of the holder, the individual who usually is allowed to assert the privilege is:

the client's legal representative

During the time that a counseling student is counseling clients in a practicum or internship setting, the student counselor:

has the same ethical obligations to uphold confidentiality as does a licensed counselor.

It is TRUE that:

when counselors share confidential client information with other professionals involved in a client's care, the counselors should first obt

When uncertain about the privileged status of information requested for disclosure through a subpoena, a counselor should consult with:

an attorney who represents the counselor or his or her employer.

Legal principles view the contents of a client's counseling records as belonging to:

the client.

When counselor trainees make audiotapes or videotapes of counseling sessions for supervision purposes:

all of the above.

Generally, counselors create clinical case notes:

for their own use, so that they may be effective counselors.

Which of the following statements is most appropriate regarding clinical case notes?

counselors should take the clinical notes they need in order to function effectively as professionals.

When documenting for self-protection:

as much detail as possible (e.g., dates, times of events, and exact words spoken) should be included.

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires that:

all of the above.

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which is sometimes referred to as the "Buckley Amendment," affects all:

public educational institutions.

HIPAA rules state that if clients are first informed and given an opportunity to orally object:

counselors may give health care information to family members or others assisting in the client's care.

If a subpoena for the counseling records of a client is received, a counselor who works in a mental health agency should:

ask his or her supervisor to obtain a legal opinion as to whether the records should be copied for the attorney who has issued the subpoena.

Subpoenas are used:

all of the above.

Keeping good records can benefit both counselors and clients in the following ways EXCEPT

proving that the counselor is not impaired or suffering from burnout.

When documenting for self-protection, counselors should not include:

counselors' thoughts, diagnoses, and conclusions.

The three major types of records that counselors keep are:

recordings, clinical case notes, and administrative.

In compliance with the Comprehensive Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1972, federally funded substance abuse programs can disclose client records under the following circumstances:

All of the above.

Per State v. Brown, 1985 and State v. Magnuson, 1984, ¬¬___________ can be used against clients in criminal investigations and is not protected by the Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Act of 1972.

counselor direct observations

Counselor competency can be assured if:

there is no way to assure counselor competency.

Which of the following statements regarding counselor competence is FALSE?

licensure ensures that practitioners are competent to do what their licenses permit them to do.

Graduate degree programs in counseling attempt to ensure their graduates are competent counselors by doing all of the following EXCEPT:

eliminating from graduate programs any students who have their own emotional issues.

Registration is the form of state regulation of a profession that:

requires members of a profession to sign up with the government if they practice the profession in the state, but anyone may sign the registry without a review of their credentials.

Legislators agree to license a professional group, such as counselors, only when it can be shown that:

the public cannot determine which practitioners are competent, and they might be harmed by incompetent members of that profession.

An argument AGAINST licensing specialties within the counseling profession (such as marriage and family counselors, rehabilitation counselors, career counselors, etc.) is:

other professions—such as medicine and law—license professionals to practice their profession generally, and those who are licensed decide which areas they are competent to practice in.

Key points with respect to diagnosis include all of the following EXCEPT:

clients should not be told the diagnosis that has been assigned to them.

Competence is most closely related to the moral principle of:

do no harm.

Malpractice is a type of civil lawsuit that can be filed against counseling professionals for practicing in a manner that leads to:

injury to a recipient of their services.

With respect to a counselor's legal liability when a client commits suicide:

very few lawsuits are filed against counselors due to client suicide.

A counselor who is dealing with an angry client who is threatening to sue the counselor should:

all of the above.

If you believe another counselor is behaving in an unethical manner, the first thing you should do is:

discuss the matter with the counselor and attempt to get him or her to change the behavior.

It would be ethically permissible for you to consider entering into a bartering arrangement with a prospective client if:

bartering is an acceptable practice among other professionals in your community.

Friendships with former clients:

generally, should be avoided because they create a potential for problems.

Boundaries serve to protect the welfare of clients because:

clients are vulnerable in counseling relationships.

The ONLY dual relationships that are prohibited by the ACA Code of Ethics are those:

involving a sexual relationship between the client and the counselor.

Regarding dual relationships between counselors and clients:

there is no consensus among professionals, as to which dual relationships are acceptable and which are not.

The primary difference between a boundary crossing and a boundary violation is:

a violation involves a serious breach of the code of ethics that results in a client being harmed.

Counselors who hug their clients:

should be cautious and ensure the client is comfortable with the touching.

All of the following statements regarding dual relationships are true EXCEPT:

all dual relationships are avoidable if the counselor practices conscientiously.

A definition of a "boundary" that is offered in the text is:

a frame around the therapeutic relationship that defines the participants' roles in the relationship.

When a counselor communicates with a client using e-mail:

the client should be advised that e-mail messages can always be retrieved and that e-mail systems are not as secure as other means of communication.

Counselors who use social media platforms for personal purposes should NOT:

friend their clients

Counselors may view a client's social media profile:

when the client has given the counselor consent to view the information.

Storing clients' records electronically:

is the preferred method for storing client records.

Minor clients have:

an ethical right to privacy and confidentiality, but no legal right in most states.

In determining whether a child is a danger to self or others, the counselor should do all of the following EXCEPT:

consult with a colleague.

Parents who object to their child's participation in counseling:

may have the right to demand that services be discontinued.

Many states have laws requiring reports of suspected abuse of all of the following EXCEPT:

abused spouses or domestic partners.

When reporting suspected child abuse in good faith, counselors should review their particular state statute to determine all of the following EXCEPT:

who must file the report.

As a professional counselor, you are required by law in all states to report:

suspected child abuse or neglect.

The 2014 ACA Code of Ethics advises counselors to:

establish collaborative relationships with parents.

Which of the following behaviors WOULD constitute insubordination?

refusing to carry out a directive of your immediate supervisor when that directive does not violate any laws or company policies.

If a counselor were to purposefully make false oral statements that damaged the reputation of another mental health professional, the counselor could be sued for:

slander

In the event a counselor has a client with a large bill for services that is several months late, the counselor SHOULD:

forget the bill and take steps in the future to prevent these bills from developing.

According to the United State Small Business Administration, the percentages of business that fail are:

over 50% fail in the first year, and 95% fail within the first 5 years.

A Preferred Provider Organization (PPO):

may not accept counselors as providers of mental health services and can limit the number of providers on their list of providers.