Undergraduate - UnitPSY4220 - Ethical and professional issues in psychology

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	School of Psychological Sciences
Offered	Clayton First semester 2015 (Day) Malaysia First semester 2015 (Day) South Africa First semester 2015 (Day)
Coordinator(s)	Dr Denisa Goldhammer

Synopsis

This unit will focus on ethical, legal and professional issues related to psychological practice. Conceptual (eg theories and definitions) and practical issues (eg common ethical dilemmas and case study appraisals) will be addressed. Some of the issues to be addressed include: legislation governing psychologists, professional organisations, codes of professional conduct, and ethical issues raised by: conflicts of interest, children as clients, using psychological tests, and the provision of psychological services to a multi-cultural population, managing the suicidal client, the reporting of child abuse, and service delivery over the internet.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Understand the purpose of legislation relating to the practice of psychology and how to comply with such legislation, appreciate the role of ethics in maintaining the integrity and cohesiveness of the profession.
Become familiar with the ethical principles to be adhered to in psychological practice.
Understand the psychologist's responsibilities in relation to clients.
Develop an appreciation of appropriate professional behaviour in a number of potentially complex situations.
Develop decision making strategies to assist in the maintenance of ethical conduct.

Assessment

Essay (2,000 words) (40%)
Group presentation on ethical issues (20%)
Examination (40%)

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Denisa Goldhammer

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Psychology

Prerequisites

Completed Bachelors Degree and a major sequence in psychology approved by the Australian Psychological Society or qualification assessed as equivalent by the Australian Psychological Society, with a distinction average for third year psychology units.

Prohibitions

PSY4200, PSY4504.