Thus, the informed consent process is of great importance for clarifying roles, responsibilities, and expectations with agreements being reached at the outset, before treatment is provided. In these situations “the client” may in fact be an organization or individual other than the child or adolescent who is to receive the treatment. As is stated in this standard “psychologists attempt to clarify at the outset of the service the nature of the relationship with all individuals or organizations involved” (p. The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA Ethics Code APA, 2010) addresses this issue in Standard 3.07, Third Party Requests for Services. Who we typically consider the client is the individual receiving the psychotherapy. An important first step is to determine what obligations the psychotherapist owes to each party (Fisher, 2009). They may be brought to treatment by their parent(s), they may be brought to treatment by a guardian (an individual or a representative of an agency such as Child Protective Services or Department of Social Services, for example), or they may seek out treatment on their own. Who is the Client?Ĭhildren and adolescents may come to treatment under a number of circumstances. The first three of these criteria are of special significance when seeking to obtain informed consent in the treatment of minors. The information shared and all that is agreed to must be documented.We must actively ensure the client’s understanding of what she or he is agreeing to.The client must be competent (legally as well as cognitively/emotionally) to give consent.Snyder and Barnett (2006) assert that for informed consent to be valid, four criteria must be met: Each of these must be known and understood prior to beginning clinical work with minors. In each jurisdiction’s licensing law and regulations there are multiple exceptions to the requirement to be legally an adult to give consent to treatment. One such requirement is the age of majority for that jurisdiction and the various circumstances under which minors have the same rights as adults to give their own consent. Licensing laws and regulations make clear the legal requirements and obligations for informed consent. The informed consent process also is required by the ethics code and in the licensing laws and regulations of each of the mental health professions. It minimizes the risk of exploitation of, and harm to, the client through this information sharing and collaborative decision-making process.It promotes the client’s autonomy and empowers the client to play an active role in her or his treatment.It promotes shared decision-making power in the relationship.It is a collaborative process that sets the tone for the psychotherapy relationship, promoting an enhanced therapeutic alliance. Barnett, Wise, Johnson-Greene, & Bucky (2007) have highlighted the potential benefits of an appropriately implemented informed consent process: Informed consent lays the foundation for the psychotherapy relationship and treatment to come in respecting the client’s legal rights and offering her or him the opportunity to make an informed decision about participating in the treatment to be offered.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |