Cox D. J. (2020).
Behavior analysis in practice, 13(4), 939–949.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-020-00455-6
Abstract
Ethical statements typically involve rules. All rules can vary in accuracy and specificity depending on the context to which they are applied. Codes of ethics often involve ethical rules that are written generally to cover the wide-ranging set of possible situations any one member of the profession may encounter. But, despite being written generally, codes of ethics are applied to specific situations that professional members encounter. The application of general rules to specific contexts can sometimes be challenging and complex. Healthcare organizations have several options to help their employees behave ethically. One approach is to appoint a single ethics coordinator (Brodhead & Higbee, 2012). In contrast, the dominant approach in most healthcare organizations is to develop an organizational ethics committee (Moon, 2009). Despite the popularity of the ethics committee in other professions, it is unknown the extent to which organizations that provide ABA services have established and operate ethics committees. Ethics coordinator roles and ethics committees each have benefits and drawbacks. This article reviews the benefits and drawbacks of appointing an ethics coordinator and establishing an ethics committee. And, for interested organizations, this article outlines the steps and considerations that organizations can use to guide the creation of an ethics committee.
Conclusion
Codes of ethics that guide helping professionals have to be written generally to cover the wide-ranging set of possible situations any one member of the profession may encounter. Despite being written generally, ethical guidelines are applied to specific situations that professional members encounter. The application of general rules to specific contexts can sometimes be challenging and complex (e.g., Bailey & Burch, 2011; Sush & Najdowski, 2019). Healthcare organizations can take several strategies to help their employees behave ethically. One approach is to appoint a single ethics coordinator (Brodhead & Higbee, 2012). In contrast, the dominant approach in most healthcare organizations is to develop an organizational ethics committee (Moon, 2019). Despite the popularity of the ethics committee in other professions, it is unknown the extent to which organizations that provide ABA services have established and operate ethics committees. For organizations interested in establishing an ethics committee, this article provided an overview of the steps that should likely be considered.
