Ethical and Professional Conduct

HEALTH, WELL-BEING, AND ETHICAL BEHAVIOR:
Ethical and professional conduct is important for professionals working with clients in the field of vocational rehabilitation. Health and well-being plays an influential role in this process. By maintaining health and wellness, vocational rehabilitation professionals can better manager their own challenges and model a positive example for clients, employers, stakeholders, and others. This includes committing to a work life balance that values and prioritizes the demands of family, friendships, social activities, healthy eating and nutrition, regular exercise, quality sleep, stress management, and avoiding the use of risky or toxic substances.

Practicing healthy lifestyle behaviors for wellness is also a way to prevent burnout, exhaustion and fatigue, cynicism or depersonalization, and feelings of inefficacy or incompetence. Self-care needs to be prioritized, along with an on-going awareness of one's mindset with the capacity to embrace flexibility for shifting perspectives when appropriate. It's worthwhile to also find ways to reduce exposure to job stressors that can trigger unhealthy distress.

Other factors that may be beneficial to consider for encouraging ethical decision making include self-acceptance, commitment to personal growth, cultivating a sense of meaning and purpose in life, willingness to manage one's environment, a sense of autonomy, ability to self-regulate behavior, and positive relationships with others.

FACTORS INFLUENCING UNETHICAL BEHAVIOR:
There are a variety of factors which may influence and lead to unethical behavior. Despite agreeing to a code of ethics in working with clients, vocational rehabilitation professionals do not always comply or follow these obligations. Often it may be unintentional, but results in unethical acts that are considered nonfeasance. The reasons for this behavior can include a negative self-image or self-esteem, personal biases, the subtle use of euphemisms, time pressures, cognitive dissonance, and feeling tired or hungry, and other factors.

FOUNDATIONS OF ETHICAL CONDUCT:
Ethical conduct is founded on there being certain criteria and standards that must be met by professionals. This includes things like academic education, services provided, degree obtained, membership with a professional association, autonomy in providing services, and agreement to abide by a code of ethics.

The differences between a code of conduct and code of ethics has mostly to do with specific behaviors that are required or prohibited and a document that outlines a set of principles that affect decision-making. Either way, they both attempt to encourage certain professional behaviors and discourage unwanted unprofessional behaviors.

Personal versus professional morals and ethics must be understand and any dilemma or conflicts must be resolved. Where the line begins and ends or where the boundary and limitation is set between these two worlds, is not always clear. Sometimes ethical inquiries are made to investigate the questions about standards of right and wrong. Normative ethics is the study of ethical action. Meta-ethics is an understanding of language of morality by analysis of the meaning of ethical concepts and theories. And descriptive ethics aims to uncover people's beliefs about values related to right and wrong actions.

There is a wide spectrum of ethical perspectives, thoughts, and reasoning that may be considered relative or objective. The history of ethics is a long story which includes familiar names of philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. Later Greek ethical thought included epicureanism and stoicism. There were also influences from early Christian ethics; the Middle Ages; modern philosophy influenced by the Catholic Church, the Age of Enlightenment, Thomas Hobbes (utilitarianism), David Hume, and Immanuel Kant (deontological theory). The post-modern philosophical era gives a nod to Friedrich Nietzsche and contemporary ethics in the twentieth century seemed to be focused on meta-ethics. The history and theories of ethics can be confusing, complex, and lengthy. What matters, is understanding that being ethical and choosing what we think is the right path is doing our best to make decisions that reflect our highest moral values. Hopefully, this promotes and encourages some combination of deontology (doing the right action) and utilitarianism (for the greatest good).

ETHICAL VALUES IN VOCATIONAL REHABILITATION:
The following is a list of some of the well-known and embraced ethical values in vocational rehabilitation:
- Autonomy
- Nonmaleficence
- Beneficence
- Justice
- Fidelity
- Veracity

ETHICAL DECISION MAKING:
The following steps may be applied when confronting an ethical dilemma and attempting to make ethical decisions:

1. Define the parameters of the problem.
2. Identify the ethical or legal issues.
3. Consider personal biases, stresses, or self-interests.
4. Consult the Code of Ethics.
5. Generate the possible courses of action.
6. Consider the potential consequences of all options and determine a course of action.
7. Evaluate the selected course of action.
8. Implement the course of action.
9. Take action.
10. Establish a plan to evaluate the results.
11. Evaluate the organizational systems.

APPLYING ETHICAL PRACTICES:
Applying ethical practices involves using informed consent with clients so they can make informed choices about services, release of information, etc. A client's consent should relate specifically to the vocational rehabilitation services, be informed, be voluntary, and not involve any misrepresentation or fraud. Consent can be obtained in written, verbal, and implied formats. It's important to consider issues regarding adult clients who may have an impaired capacity or language and communication barriers to consent.

Other important ethical practices include boundaries and limitations with self-disclosure, giving or receiving gifts, ignoring established customs, expressing personal opinions, and becoming friends or any other form of multiple/dual relationships that could risk conflict of interest and/or confusion about roles, responsibilities, and expectations.

Finally, a vocational rehabilitation professional should always maintain client confidentiality and privacy for privileged information. They should consider using sensitivity when asked to critique the reports of other professionals and peers. They need to keep in mind their legal, mandatory reporting obligations to protect vulnerable people including children/minors, people with disabling conditions or impairments/limitations, and elders who may be at risk of harm from abuse, exploitation, and/or neglect.

REFERENCES:
College of Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals, Board of Directors. 2021-2023. Standards of Practice. College of Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals. https://cvrp.net/wp-content/uploads/129-Approved-Version-02-CVRP-SoPs.pdf

College of Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals, Board of Directors. 2019. Vocational Rehabilitation Competencies. College of Vocational Rehabilitation Professionals. https://cvrp.net/wp-content/uploads/60-Competencies.pdf