心理学专业外文文献Ethical issues in sport psychology

Ethical issues in sport psychology Jack C Watson II William C Way and Robert C Hilliard The fi eld of sport psychology is dynamic and growing To continue building credibility with the public and allied professionals effective and ethical practice is crucial Advances in technology have allowed sport psychology professionals to consult with athletes from a distance but practitioners must be mindful of their competency to use technology confi dentiality concerns and the suitability of technology for their clients Movement toward defi ning competency and clarifying issues of title usage are additional areas in which the fi eld is gaining momentum Recent attention has also been drawn to the topics of professional development and cultural competency With the unique settings in which applied sport psychology practice takes place attention to multiple relationships is another key ethical issue Address West Virginia University USA Corresponding author Watson Jack C Jack Watson mail wvu edu Current Opinion in Psychology 2017 16 143 147 This review comes from a themed issue on Sport psychology Edited by Peter J Beek Vana Hutter and Raoul Oudejans For a complete overview see the Issue and the Editorial Available online 30th May 2017 http dx doi org 10 1016 j copsyc 2017 05 008 2352 250X 2017 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved The ethical issues affecting the profession of sport psychology are very similar to the ethical issues affecting the broader fi elds of counseling and clinical psychology Recent topics of interest in sport psychology literature includetheuseofteletherapy titleusageand competency multiplerelationships and practice settings After reviewing the literature it appears these ethical issues are relevant in applied sport psychology practice across the world Teletherapy One of the most prominent ethical issues facing applied sportpsychologypractitionersinthepresentdayrelatesto their use of teletherapy Generally speaking teletherapy is a subset of telemedicine that refers to the use of telecommunications strategies and technology to provide psychologically related therapeutic services to a client from a distance While the use of teletherapy has increased dramatically amongst psychology practitioners the use of these technologies to provideservices to clients may be even more prominent in the practice of sport psychology given the demands often placed upon the clientele Somewhat recently a study involving sport psychology practitioners from 23 different countries found that 48 used the internet in their consulting 1 These services may range from the use of Email or texting apps to the use of easily accessible and more sophisticated confi dential videoconferencing technology All forms of teletherapy services present the practitioner with unique ethical challenges that must be considered e g knowledge of who the client is their age ability to consent to services existence of duress Therefore ethical issues related to the practice of teletherapy are essential to cover as little consistency exists between jurisdictions with regard to the regulation policy and reimbursement for services 2 Within sport psychology clients tend to be younger athletes between the ages of 12 and 35 3 Research suggests that individuals of this age tend to embrace technology and be very technologically savvy having grown up in a technological age and having been exposed to technology for the majority of their lives 4 This increased exposure to technology throughout their lives may result in individuals within this age range actually developing a dependency upon the availability and use of such devices throughout their lives 3 Furthermore present day athletes tend to have very demanding schedules that include extensive travel game and practice schedules along with coursework and or other work commitments 5 While many different benefi ts e g service availability decreased response time anonymity and cost effective ness and concerns e g confi dentiality credentialing of practitionersacrossboundaries qualityofinformationand services relationshipdevelopment andchanging technology surround the use of teletherapy in sport psychology 6 7 8 teletherapy can allow practitioners to provide services that accommodate the time and travel demands faced by many clients 3 While many ethical issues are important to the practice of teletherapy the primary ethical issues that need to be considered when making decisions about the provision of teletherapy services in sport psychology include confi dentiality competency informed consent and appropriate use of services 3 8 10 These issues are extremely important for practitioners to consider when deciding if they should consult with clients from a distance Available online at ScienceDirect Current Opinion in Psychology 2017 16 143 147 Confi dentiality is the most commonly cited ethical issue associatedwithteletherapy Practitionersutilizing teletherapy technology should do their utmost to secure the confi dentiality of their clients especially because teletherapy is vulnerable in this regard They should clearly indicate to their clients what can and cannot be achieved in this regard 11 Competencyisanotheressentialethicalissuefor practitionerstoconsiderwhendecidingtoutilize teletherapy Competency issues need to be considered bypractitionersfromtwoperspectives 6 First practitioners need to be well versed with the technology they plan to use in practice Such technical competency would entail the practitioners understanding how to trouble shoot technology problems on their end or the clients end being able to communicate potential concerns and limit confi dentiality concerns associated with the technology knowing how to store information effectively and understanding how to communicate shouldtechnologicalproblemsarise 12 Second practitioners need to be competent with regard to their ability to provide effective services using the technology Practitioners should be aware of the evidence to make determinations of the potential effectiveness of the use of technology with specifi c clients and work to gain the necessary professional training e g education training self study continuing education supervision mentoring to deliver effective services to their clients based upon best practices standards 12 This second point is very important as most practitioners have not received any training in the effective use of technology for service provision The informed consent process may change for practi tioners who are consulting via teletherapy In addition to normal informed consent practitioners using teletherapy should also consider taking steps to ensure that the client is whom s he says they are and is of age to provide consent This information might also include limits to confi dentiality personal background and training with regard to teletherapy limitations of teletherapy possibil ity of misunderstandings frequency of responding to messages and alternative communication strategies 13 It is also important for practitioners to understand that teletherapy is not appropriate for all clients e g those presenting with eating disorders or personality disorders Therefore decisions about the use of teletherapy services should be based upon a case by case consideration of factors such as client s presenting concerns is there literature to support the benefi t of teletherapy work with specifi cpresentingproblems clients comfortand knowledgerelatedtotheuseoftechnology e g behavioral presentation age knowledge oftechnology 13 Without such considerations practitioners could work with clients who are not likely to benefi t from their services Competency In addition to emerging issues with teletherapy there are other competency related topics that are at the forefront of the profession Perhaps due to its interdisciplinary nature the profession of applied sport psychology has struggled to solidify a clear unifying conceptualization of competency As reviewed by Aoyagi et al 14 the early years of applied practice saw two groups of practitioners trained through two different academic models and doing two different things yet both referring to their work as sport psychology p 33 Subsequent ambiguity about the blurred lines 15 between performance enhance ment and counseling clinical services can leave both practitioners and clients feeling confused about roles and expectations 14 16 Professional title usage amid these ambiguous blurred lines is an ongoing ethical issue and competency is a crucial topic therein Although little research has examined the patterns or frequencies of specifi c titles used by sport psychology practitioners this is a common topic of ethical debate A primary issue revolves around the use of the title sport psychologist 17 Legally the title of psychologist is protected in many countries restricting the title of sport psychologist to those who are credentialed psychologists This has barred non credentialed professionals often trained in sport sciences from using the sport psychologist title although this has not deterred some from doing so This creates not only an ethical but a potential legal issue for these practitioners However just as a practitioner trained in individual therapy who attended a workshop about family therapy would not be able to refer to him or herself as a family therapist 17 being a credentialed psychologist does not necessarily give one the ethical right to call oneself a sport psychologist In Brazil for example an individual must earn the sport psychologist specialist title through one of three training pathways 18 Substantial supervised training within applied sport psychology is needed to build a level of competency deserving of the title 19 106 TD DIFF Studies of sport psychology practitioners in Belgium have also highlighted a desire for more formalized sport psychology training in an effort to enhancetheircompetency 20 21 Althoughwe recognize that titles are not protected in all countries 20 22 it is clear that many practitioners recognize the importanceoftraining specifi callywithinsport psychology theories and methods Despite their title practitioners must consider not only the breadth and depth of their competency but also what isinthebestinterestoftheclient 23 For instance those withextensiveclinicaltrainingmay beinclinedtohonein on potential mental health concerns but doing so prema turely can make athletes uneasy 24 Conversely those without a psychology background should not neglect the importance of screening for common mental disorders among athletes 15 and utilizing counseling skills during 144Sport psychology Current Opinion in Psychology 2017 16 143 applied consultations 25 because athletes who initially present with performance related concerns may not disclose broader personal issues until they feel signifi cant trust and rapport with their practitioner 15 23 Closely tied to the issue of title usage and the scope of treatment debates have surfaced about what type of training model would optimally prepare competent practitioners This debate is further intensifi ed when considering the different possible pathways to practicing sport psychology available across jurisdictions and coun tries 22 Additionally recent conversation has centered on what credentials e g certifi cation and or licensure refl ectadequatecompetency 19 26 Portengaetal 27 emphasized that certifi cation and academic standards aretwosidesofthesamecoin p 3 and effortsarebeing made to strengthen and clarify both In their recent job task analysis the Association for Applied Sport Psychol ogy identifi ed the knowledge and skills that underpin the competent delivery of sport psychology services 28 These content areas will serve as the foundation for an exam based certifi cation process 2 In addition to the summative assessment of qualifi cation the case has also beenmadethatassessmentofprogresstowarddeveloping benchmarks of competency is important 23 29 For mal or informal assessment of progress could be helpful throughout the entirety of a career in sport psychology Fletcher and Maher 30 asserted that competence is not a static end point that one achieves nor should it be viewed in a dichotomous manner p 267 Professionals have been urged to consider the half life of their knowledge in the dynamic world of practice 30 31 particularly because the rate at which new knowledge becomes outdated could be increasing 32 In lieu of common terms like continued professional development practitioners have recently been encouraged to concep tualize their ongoing professional growth as adaptive and evolutionary reconfi guration which would place an emphasis on keeping pace with changes in technology and teletherapy emerging issues in the fi eld and dynamic sociocultural contexts 33 34 35 36 Indeed contextual intelligence and cultural competency are extremely important facets of professional develop ment A nuanced understanding of the unique demands and cultural contexts of particular sports may be helpful for connecting with athletes 23 37 as well as for the competent delivery of clinical 38 and performance based interventions 21 39 The ethical and effective practitioner must also be aware of how athletes sociocul tural identities intersect with the culture of the sports in which they participate 34 35 36 37 40 However there appears to be room for improvement in the extent to which graduate programs cultivate cultural competency 33 34 and a recent study of sport psychology graduate programs found that relatively few had a primary focus on developing cultural competency in their students 34 Multiple relationships Because of the nature of sport psychology service delivery multiple relationships have a unique role in practice 41 Ethics codes across various organizations advise against the formation of multiple relationships that may impair objectivity especially when exploitation is likely to occur 11 42 45 However multiple roles frequently occur in sport psychology and are often unavoidable 46 47 In one of the few empirical exam inations to date 61 of responding sport psychology practitioners indicated that they had been involved in multiple role relationships 49 Given these fi ndings it is important to note that multiple relationships are not strictly identifi ed as unethical 40 as various ethics codes recognize that sometimes multiple relationships are unavoidable and in these circumstances care should be taken to ensure an appropriate relationship between the parties 11 43 Thus practitioners are expected to act reasonably and consider how the relationship is likely to affect their client when engaging in multiple role relationships The nature of sport psychology work provides unique opportunities for various multiple roles to arise One of the most common multiple roles is that of teacher practitioner 48 50 in which one serves as both a consul tantandprofessor forastudent athlete Again theseroles may be unavoidable due to course requirements for students or available faculty to teach particular courses 50 However this relationship primarily occurs in the United States where academic and sport training are often closely integrated Worldwide other dual roles are much more common such as the coach practitioner physiotherapist practitioner strengthtrainer practitioner and researcher practitioner 51 52 Regard less of the type of dual role it is important for the practitioner to address these issues early so that clients are aware how the two roles will be kept separate 50 Non traditional practice settings Finally sport psychology offers opportunities to practice in unique settings Unlike traditional counseling where sessions occur in a private offi ce the sport psychology practitioner might encounter various multiple roles boundary crossings or confi dentiality concerns while engaged in practice These potentially sticky situations could include traveling on busses and airplanes with teams to away competitions and eating meals with them standing on the sidelines during games consulting with clients in public on the side of the practice area in a hotel lobby or on a team bus 41 49 Similarly to the situa tions discussed previously these types of multiple rela tionships and confi dentiality issues do not necessarily become problematic if they are addressed ethically and with the best interests of the client in mind In these instances following an ethical decision making model 53 could be useful in helping the practitioner determine Ethical issues in sport psychology Watson Way and Hilliard145 Current Opinion in Psychology 2017 16 143 147 whether he or she is acting ethically Several of these models exist and provide guidance for practitioners when making ethical decisions Factors included in ethical decision making include identifying the problem deter mining dimensions of the dilemma outlining potential courses of action and its potential consequences and fi nally evaluating and implementing a course of action 53 Usingdecisionmakingmodelscanhelppractitioners identify consequences of and alternatives to non traditional settings and multiple relationships Thus it is important for sport psychology professionals to be vigilant in their work to ethically handle the myriad of ethical issues that can emerge Conclusion Although sport psychology and other domains of psychol ogy share many common ethical concerns there are unique nuances faced by practitioners working in the sport domain 107 TD DIFF While the issues of teletherapy compe tency and training and multiple relationships are com monly discussed it may be that issues related to title usage and the practice of sport psychology in non tradi tional settings are most pertinent in the current landscape oftheprofession Futureresearchonethicsshouldfurther examine ethical beliefs behaviors and challenges of practitioners It is important that sport psychology professionals not only be aware of what ethical mistakes are commonly made by practitioner