Students will choose an area of ethics applicable to the field of mental health to explore in this paper. Students Students will choose an area of ethics which caused them a great deal of anxiety and/or worry at the beginning of the semester. Find 4-5 professional research articles (not information for websites, but articles searched for through the library portal in professional journals) published within the last 5 years (if you cannot find any that recently, come and talk with me about what you are finding and I will be make a case by case determination of appropriateness based on the topic) which discuss the chosen topic. Students papers should discuss the topic utilizing the following subheadings and discussing the indicated details:
I. Ethical Topic of Exploration – define what the main ethical dilemmas, legal implications, and/or potential sticky points are associated with the chosen topic
II. Best Practices – discussion of what the professional ethical best practices would be in situations associated with the chosen topic
III. Christian Worldview Integration – comparison and contrast to Christian morality and worldview and how this perspective might influences one’s ethical responses to such situations (even if you disagree with mainstream Christian worldview. Any disagreements you have about this worldview would be expressed in section IV).
IV. Personal Growth and Exploration – discussion of how you personally have grown in your perspective of this issue over the course of study this information and how you will handle such situations in the future
The overall page length should be a minimum of 6-7 pages (not including the title page or reference pages). Websites, public domain information, or popular literature are not considered professional publications and are not to be utilized as references. Papers are expected to be submitted in .docx format through the Blackboard link in the course. The paper is expected to follow APA 7th edition publication manual and following the required formatting expectation will be a graded component of this assignment. Minor problems with citations or quotation format will be met with a loss of points; however, failure to incorporate citations for quoted or paraphrased information which is not the direct work of the student will be considered plagiarism and result in a significant loss of points up to and included receiving a 0 on this assignment. Any ideas or phrases from a source must be citation and direct quotations must be indicated as such. Furthermore, students are being graded on their work and should not rely significantly on quoted material to speak for them. Questions about how to strike an appropriate balance in professional writing can be discussed with Dr. Burgess during office hours or assistance from the writing lab is encouraged.
Students will develop a 10 minute presentation for the class related to the current professional research in the area related to their chosen topic and how it compares/contrasts to Christian worldview (basically facilitating a discussion of your paper with the class). This presentation should focus on sharing with one’s classmates the key points of ethical and professional practice related to the specific chosen topic. Powerpoint presentation slides may be used if chosen (but are not required). Students presentations will be a graded component of the assignment and as such should be well developed presentations.
Ideas for papers are endless, but it is strongly encouraged that students get instructor feedback on your topic before you begin actively writing on the topic. Some examples of prior chosen topics: Maintaining appropriate personal boundaries when practicing in a rural community, Promoting client confidentiality in a prison based mental health, Multicultural implications of working with clients from different faith background than therapist, work with clients from a different faith tradition than yourself, etc.papers should explore the topic chosen, explore the ethical implications, and how one might ethically engage in the practice related to the chosen topic. The paper should be 8-10 pages in written length (not including title and reference pages which are in addition to written length). Papers must incorporate a minimum of 8 professional references published within the last 10 years which reflect current ethical considerations in the field. The two required readings for this course can be used as references for this paper, but the additional references should be professional publications in refereed journals in order to adequately reflect current ethical thoughts regarding the applicable topics. Papers should fully explore the chosen area, its appropriate legal and ethical points, consider/contrast multiple perspectives regarding the ethical issue presented, and consider how legal and ethical perspectives compare and contrast to one’s Christian morality and perspectives of integrity.
Websites, public domain information, or popular literature are not considered professional publications and are not to be utilized as references. Papers are expected to be submitted in .docx format through the Blackboard link in the course. The paper is expected to follow APA 7th edition publication manual and following the required formatting expectation will be a graded component of this assignment. Minor problems with citations or quotation format will be met with a loss of points; however, failure to incorporate citations for quoted or paraphrased information which is not the direct work of the student will be considered plagiarism and result in a significant loss of points up to and included receiving a 0 on this assignment. Any ideas or phrases from a source must be citation and direct quotations must be indicated as such. Furthermore, students are being graded on their work and should not rely significantly on quoted material to speak for them. Questions about how to strike an appropriate balance in professional writing can be discussed with Dr. Burgess during office hours or assistance from the writing lab is encouraged.
Hello Everyone –
I wanted to take a moment to remind you of a few points that I have communicated in class, but that are important to take not of with regard to next week’s paper and presentation due date.
1) There is a folder at the top of Blackboard titled “Writing Resources” I strongly encourage you to review these points related to APA formatting guidelines, appropriately cited and referencing professional references, and developing a strong paper. This assignment carries a great deal of weight in this class and my experience has been that students frequently do not cite paraphrased information because it is familiar to them. Paraphrased information is not about what you know, but what is your creation. You might be able to have a full discussion on a topic, but unless it is your original idea completely, you need to cite the source upon which your points are based.
2) Written page length guidelines are for the body of the paper. The title page and references pages are required (make sure to format these according to APA guidelines), but are in addition to the 6-7 pages. TIP- putting extra space between paragraphs (beyond the appropriate double spacing throughout) or between sections does not count as added length to the paper. I am looking for at least 6 full written pages at a minimum.
3) In terms of Ethical Topics, you are expected to choose to write about a specific aspect of ethics that was somewhat anxiety inducing or something you had very little knowledge about at the beginning of the semester. Some examples might be boundaries between parents and children in terms of confidentiality, managing inevitability of dual relationships in smaller communities, working in forensic or prison populations and the legal expectations of balancing confidentiality, handling one’s religious convictions when the contradict lifestyle perspectives of one’s clients, etc. These are only some general ideas and many more are available for exploration.
4) The paper needs to be organized into the 4 content areas outlined on the instructions (in the week 4/22 Presentation folder). The language in the paper should reflect professional language (no slang or contractions and written in the 3rd person except for the final section which is a personal reflection section). Read through the expectations for each of the assigned topic areas and feel free to ask for clarification if anything is unclear.
5) Professional references are found through a search of the library catalog rather than Google. Information found from a Google search is not considered professional. If you need help on how to search for appropriate professional references, there are library assistants that can help you. Pay attention to the publication dates. In Ethics best practices are constantly evolving. Thus, it is necessary to use very recent publications. If you are having difficulty finding references, come talk with me about this and I will help you locate some acceptable ones.
6) You have unlimited attempts on submitting the paper so that you can upload the paper and review the plagiarism report to make sure you have everything appropriately cited. I strongly encourage you to review that report so that you don’t lose points for not citing paraphrased and quoted information. That said, sometimes these reports do not catch everything and sometimes they highlight things that are appropriately cited.
If you have a preference as to presentation order (definitely want to go first or absolutely don’t want to go first), let me know. If I don’t hear from anyone, I probably will default to alphabetical order.
I would encourage you to begin working on this assignment sooner rather than later. As always, if you have questions on my expectations, feel free to reach out.
Take care
Dr. B
