Evidence-based Literature Discussion

Evidence-based Literature Discussion

Respond by suggesting strategies to address the legal and ethical considerations your colleagues discussed. Support your responses with evidence-based literature.
(positive comment)

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Psychotherapy is an integral part of mental health treatment. Psychotherapy involves accepted therapies that are capable of producing change or maintain acceptable behavior or function in individuals and families as well as alleviate emotional distress or symptoms that affect individual or family growth and development (American Psychiatric Nurses Association-APNA, 2014). Like in every profession, there are always rules and regulations that guide the actions. Psychotherapy of any type allows the therapists to get to individual’s or families’ confidential issues. Therefore, the legal and ethical rights of the people involved must be considered and respected. However, it is crucial to understand the differences between individual, family, and group therapies.

Difference between legal and ethical considerations for group and family therapy and individual therapy

When it comes to the ethical and legal considerations in psychotherapy, Miller (2018) identified the following essential issues; Responsibility, Confidentiality, personal value as well as informed consent. Responsibility: The therapists must understand her limits in each type of therapy. In individual therapy, the therapist has a one to one relationship with the client; however, the relationship differs in family therapy and group therapy, the therapist views the family or the group as one unit and acts as the group leader, facilitator, environmental manager, educator/teacher, and or cheerleader. The therapist is committed to promoting the welfare of every member involved in the treatment process. Confidentiality, on the other hand is one vital ethical issue in psychotherapy. In individual therapy, the therapist is concerned with keeping the information of the one individual in confidence, whereas in family therapy, confidentiality becomes very crucial. Though the family is considered as one unit, every individual’s secret or information must be kept in confidence. Every member must understand the issue of confidentiality. This issue of confidentiality becomes more difficult in group therapy than individual therapy due to more chances of leakage or breach of confidentiality among the group members. Confidentiality should become one of the most critical group norms, and it should be discussed openly, thoroughly, and often among group members (McClanahan, 2014). Another ethical issue is respect for personal value. It is easy to study and respect individual and family values and culture. However, in group therapy, the counselor has a more significant work of studying every member of the group to avoid offending anyone or be misunderstood.

One important legal consideration in psychotherapy is the issue of informed consent, either individual, family, or group therapy. In individual therapy, therapeutic consent is required from the one individual. Any sharing of information must be consented and signed by the individual. Whereas in family therapy, every member of the family involved or invited must consent for the therapy. The therapist must uphold the individual client’s confidentiality to other family members. The same applies to group therapy, where every member of the group consents to be involved in the group. The level of information shared is determined by each member of the group while the group leader holds everyone’s information in confidence.

Impact of the differences in legal and ethical considerations in individual, family and group therapy

As a PMHNP, understanding the importance of confidentiality will help in safeguarding every individual’s information. Building trust and confidence between the therapist and the clients depends on respecting the individual’s family and group values and cultures. For any therapeutic approach, the patient must consent to treatment to avoid breaching professional guidelines and avoid possible lawsuits from patients and families. The PMHNP should address the issue of confidentiality to individual clients, families, and group members before embarking on any therapeutic counseling. Though family therapy members are seen as an entity, the therapist must understand the importance of maintaining the confidentiality of information of every member of the family. Finally, consent must be received and signed for any information to be released or shared to avoid violation of confidence and The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). HIPPA is one of the acts that guide the practices of a nurse when it comes to Group and Family Therapy. Clients benefit when information is kept confidential, and a trusting relationship can be achieved. The disclosure of private information without client consent can harm the therapeutic relationship even when such disclosures are mandated by law (McClanahan, 2014). So as a PMHNP, I must recognize the importance of individual consents both in individual, family, and group therapy, respect each value and maintain the confidentiality of information as part of my work as a therapist.

References

American Psychiatric Nurses Association-APNA, (2014) Psychiatric-Mental Health Nursing: Scope and Standards of Practice. (2nd ed). Retrieved June 4, 2020, from http://www.apna.org/

McClanahan K.K (July 21, 2014) Can Confidentiality be Maintained in Group Therapy? Retrieved June 4, 2020, from https://nationalpsychologist.com/2014/07/can-confidentiality-be-maintained-in-group-therapy/102566.html

Miller A (December 31, 2018) Types of Ethical Issues a Counselor May Face When Working with Families. Retrieved June 4, 2020, from https://careertrend.com/aba-therapist-salaries-13660801.html.

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ADDITIONAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE CLASS

Discussion Questions (DQ)

Initial responses to the DQ should address all components of the questions asked, include a minimum of one scholarly source, and be at least 250 words.
Successful responses are substantive (i.e., add something new to the discussion, engage others in the discussion, well-developed idea) and include at least one scholarly source.
One or two sentence responses, simple statements of agreement or “good post,” and responses that are off-topic will not count as substantive. Substantive responses should be at least 150 words.
I encourage you to incorporate the readings from the week (as applicable) into your responses.
Weekly Participation

Your initial responses to the mandatory DQ do not count toward participation and are graded separately.
In addition to the DQ responses, you must post at least one reply to peers (or me) on three separate days, for a total of three replies.
Participation posts do not require a scholarly source/citation (unless you cite someone else’s work).
Part of your weekly participation includes viewing the weekly announcement and attesting to watching it in the comments. These announcements are made to ensure you understand everything that is due during the week.
APA Format and Writing Quality

Familiarize yourself with APA format and practice using it correctly. It is used for most writing assignments for your degree. Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for APA paper templates, citation examples, tips, etc. Points will be deducted for poor use of APA format or absence of APA format (if required).
Cite all sources of information! When in doubt, cite the source. Paraphrasing also requires a citation.
I highly recommend using the APA Publication Manual, 6th edition.
Use of Direct Quotes

I discourage overutilization of direct quotes in DQs and assignments at the Masters’ level and deduct points accordingly.
As Masters’ level students, it is important that you be able to critically analyze and interpret information from journal articles and other resources. Simply restating someone else’s words does not demonstrate an understanding of the content or critical analysis of the content.
It is best to paraphrase content and cite your source.
LopesWrite Policy

For assignments that need to be submitted to LopesWrite, please be sure you have received your report and Similarity Index (SI) percentage BEFORE you do a “final submit” to me.
Once you have received your report, please review it. This report will show you grammatical, punctuation, and spelling errors that can easily be fixed. Take the extra few minutes to review instead of getting counted off for these mistakes.
Review your similarities. Did you forget to cite something? Did you not paraphrase well enough? Is your paper made up of someone else’s thoughts more than your own?
Visit the Writing Center in the Student Success Center, under the Resources tab in LoudCloud for tips on improving your paper and SI score.
Late Policy

The university’s policy on late assignments is 10% penalty PER DAY LATE. This also applies to late DQ replies.
Please communicate with me if you anticipate having to submit an assignment late. I am happy to be flexible, with advance notice. We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances.
If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect.
I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension.
As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading.
Communication

Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me:
Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class.
Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours.