What is Informed Consent - Research Paper Example

Question 1: Ethics Generally, the term “informed consent” is related to patients and patient advocacy. It is defined as “a legal procedure to ensure that a patient or client knows all of the risks and costs involved in a treatment” (Cherry, 2012, para.1). This client gives this consent voluntarily, and the requirement is that he should be competent enough to give off the consent and make decisions about the crucial matter at hand. It is critical for the counselors that they know who their client actually is. In school counseling, the ‘client’ of the school counselor is the student, as explained by the Ethical Standards for School Counselors 2004. The student is informed about all the circumstances and his decision is valued. Parents come at the next level. Informed consent in groups becomes a difficult task when groups contain students with learning disabilities. They may find it hard to understand what the decision is about, and why they should give their consent. Hence, it is important to make strategic plans to take informed consent from vulnerable groups. Informed consent is important because it makes the group members feel empowered. First of all, they are informed about the goals of the group. He is told that the group aims at promoting personal growth, where he can identify and share his feelings with other group members. The most important part of group counseling is confidentiality. The counselor is bound by law to keep private all information gained by the group members, and the members are also supposed to keep what is said in the group within the group. To take informed consent, the counselor should inform the client of his rights and the state and federal laws. According to the section A.2 of the American Counseling Association (ACA, 2005), group counseling should include informed consent. Since the client is always new to the counseling services, he should be introduced to the services in the consent form (A.2.b). An informed consent form should be reassuring and easily comprehendible. It includes introduction to the institution, introduction to the counselor, rights and responsibilities of the counselor and the client (A.2.a, F.1.c), description of services with benefits and risks (A.2.b, E.3.a), statements about confidentiality policy (A.2.b, A.12.g), consent from parents/guardians in case of minors (A.2.d, B.5), contact number for emergency situations, need for interpreter or translator to understand the consent form (A.2.c), permission before saving the session electronically (B.6); and, signature by the student, his guardian, and the counselor, with date. Hence, this document not only takes the client’s consent, but also informs him about the counseling services. Hence, the client reads and signs the consent form, before the therapy or counseling begins. A copy is to be maintained by the client himself. Hence, we see that informed consent forms inform the client about the services being provided to him, and his rights and responsibilities. He is ensured that his information will be kept confidential. His permission is taken before saving his documents electronically, and he is informed about all legal and ethical implications of the services that he wants to render. Question 2: Leadership of Task Work Groups If leadership is thriving, a formal task work group brings out high level of productivity, because the level of professionalism is high. If it is an informal group, the leader enhances this productivity through encouraging the bondage of friendship and interpersonal association between employees. Kerr and King (1984, p.4) state that “when such groups evolve over a period of time and other people join them, their simple structures are often found to be inadequate to maintain communication.” A leader should understand that problems begin to develop when the group or team members do not understand their own and others’ responsibilities, or develop unnecessary expectations from others. Hence, the leader should prefer implementing a more formal structure within the groups; and, should ensure that formal procedures and policies are followed throughout the projects assigned so that problems occurring due to misunderstandings can be deterred. Also, the leader should be able to provide the groups an effective collaborative platform so that a shared communicative environment is made possible where all members can interact with each other without hesitation. The leader should encourage the members to share their problems with each other and with the supervisors, so that they feel empowered and valued. This would motivate them to make a collaborative effort toward the productivity. The leader has to make sure that all potential pitfalls are regularly encountered, by arranging meetings with the members and keeping a regular check on the outcomes of project modules. He also has to ensure that there is a balanced overlapping of formal and informal groups because, sometimes, this overlapping results in an increase in workplace bully. So, a leader’s role will be to maintain a practical balance between the groups. Guo and Company (2007) conducted a study on twelve Canadian hospitals. They studied the role of medical social work groups in serving the needs of patients. They studied the core competencies required by the group leader that help him make the team members perform multiple tasks at the same time. They found that, “Managing a department that is going through continuous changes is often difficult” (p.124). To respond to this difficulty, leaders are required to develop such competencies and leadership qualities with the help of which they are able to “perform new roles and functions in the complex health care environment”, according to Guo and Company (2007, p.124). Their study illustrates that leaders need to develop ethical leadership to set the stage for successful task work groups. Hence, the ultimate role of the leader is to create such task work groups that function effectively to produce greater results (Gladding, 2011). The most important thing is consideration about internal and external communication. If leaders want that employees participate in a vigorous collaborative environment where they interrelate with each other in a better way to share their ideas and information, they would have to take steps to improve their communication with their group members, listen to their problems, talk to them and work out their issues. This can be done through arranging regular meetings with the group members. Question 3: Counseling considerations of LGBTQ clients in groups Counseling with lesbians, gays, bisexual, transgender, and queer clients needs special consideration on part of the counselor. First of all, as a counselor, I should be well-informed about the sexual orientation of my clients. I should be well-equipped with the skills needed to address my clients’ counseling needs, and should be able to create a non-judgmental environment free of my personal attitudes toward my clients’ sexual orientation. I should be comfortable at discussing sex related issues with the clients. If I think that being homosexual is a kind of mental illness or physical defect, then I will not be able to deal with my clients in an appropriate way. So, the therapeutic relationship should be free of personal views and concepts. If I believe that the client needs to change his sexual orientation, a concept referred to as re-orientation therapy, I should conduct sufficient research on the issue before considering it. I must know that such treatments are strongly criticized by The American Psychiatric Association, The American Psychological Association, and The American Academy of Pediatrics. Cass, (as cited in Meem et al. 2010) listed six stages that homosexuals go through when they recognize their sexual orientation. These are (1) identity awareness: the person begins to recognize that he has physical needs and desires different from conventional teachings; (2) identity comparison: he compares his sexual orientation with that of people around him; (3) identity tolerance: he fights with his desires; (4) identity acceptance: he accepts his sexual orientation; (5) identity pride: he embraces homosexual lifestyle and finds his place in society; and, (6) identity synthesis: he considers himself a normal part of society. During group counseling, I must make sure at which stage each client is. This will make it easy for me to identify each client’s counseling needs more accurately, and I will be able to identify if the clients need individual therapy rather than in group. To work in a caring, thoughtful and professional manner in order to deal with LGBTQ clients in groups, I must be able to understand his clients. Issues of LGBTQ clients are just the same as normal persons: depression, anxiety, work stress, relationship strain, grief, couple therapy, and parenting. These issues may be a bit stronger in these clients because of the stigma and the discrimination they have to suffer due to their sexual orientation. So, I must deal them as normal persons, and treatment should not be different for them. If there are couples, their therapy should be just the same as marital therapy; however, they should be informed about the legal and social issues arising from their sexual orientation and the special lifestyle they are living with. I should be able to deal with the relationships among LGBTQ clients as normal committed relationships, with issues of parenting, adopting, residence, and separation. In short, I must first know whether I will be able to work with LGBTQ clients or not, keeping aside my personal biases; and, should be able to understand that the stigma attached to LGBTQ persons should not hinder with their normal treatment. Question 4: Critical Incident It becomes a critical incident for a group when a member leaves (Page, 2008, p.208-212). Sudden leaving of a member catches the group off-guard, and the members may not be able to cope with the stress for the time being. As a counselor, I must know which circumstances forced the member to leave; or if he left voluntarily, then what are the concerns that need to be addressed about him and about the members who are left in the group. As for the lost member, I would try to persuade him not to leave the group, but if he seems to be benefitting more from leaving, then I would support him and would morally support him, because it would also not be easy for him to leave. I would address issues like: What made him leave? Was it forced or voluntary? Was there a fault in my leadership that made him leave? Did he have a prior plan? Did he go to a better place? Will he benefit from leaving? For the rest of the group, I would analyze what disadvantage the group would suffer from the loss of a member, and would try to compensate for it by looking for another competent member. I would address these concerns: Will the rest of the group suffer from the loss of a member? What place did the lost member have in the group? Can that place be compensated? How is the group feeling? Are the members ready to embrace a new member? Will they be able to cope with the stress? I would also devise strategies to make the group members cope with the grief of the lost member. First of all, I would identify that the members are under stress. I can have this idea by detecting their behavioral patterns and mood changes. If the whole group is under stress, a bigger plan needs to be implemented to soothe them through affirmation and support. Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) is a peer-driven process in which peers share their feelings with each other with guidance from the counselor. It includes promoting conversation between group members, during which they listen to each other’s thoughts and share their own. I would act as a mental health professional by responding to their grief, and would guide them through the process. I would also assess the group members’ needs for individual counseling. In a stress debriefing session, first I would establish group goals, and ensure confidentiality. Then, I would listen to each group member’s thoughts about the incident. I would make them analyze their own sentiments and emotions; and, would encourage them to have a look at how the incident may have affected their professional and personal lives. After analyzing their stress response, I would guide them through the process of stress coping. I would examine the positive effects of my debriefing session, and would refer them to individual follow-ups in case they do not show improvement. In short, I would conduct formal stress debriefing sessions in order to make the members cope with the stress resulting from the loss of a member. References ACA. (2005). ACA Code of Ethics. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:aNyoewex7E4J:www.counseling.org/files/fd.ashx%3Fguid%3Dab7c1272-71c4-46cf-848c-f98489937dda+informed+consent+forms+ACA+Code+of+Ethics&hl=en&gl=pk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgjq2IxvKnfKT3aXft8y_Rx6IWDVkjX6Jep4_y-nCedrPcKc79IM-6fTxXST-1789MUrTQh_gpVCSYqk9LCXr8dkEbM4dp9xYc6nQ3nKKY-4FQH43pBvADfIWL77VZoaBCLNxfp&sig=AHIEtbSc1ziW6EXmBTq-UI-sjzzlXx7RWw Cherry, K. (2012). What is informed consent? About.com: Psychology. Retrieved May 1, 2012, from http://psychology.about.com/od/iindex/g/def_informedcon.htm Gladding, S.T. (2011). Groups: A Counseling Specialty. USA: Prentice Hall PTR. Guo, K.L., & Company, J.D. (2007). Leaders in hospital-based social work: The roles and functions of directors of social work in the case management model. Leadership in Health Services, 20(2), pp. 124-133. Kerr, M.K., & King, H.W. (1984). Informal groups and formal organizations. Procedures for Meetings and Organizations. USA: Taylor & Francis. Meem, D.T., Gibson, M., Gibson, M.A., & Alexander, J.F. (2010). Finding Out: An Introduction to LGBT Studies. USA: Sage. Page, B.J., & Jencius, M.J. (2008). Groups: Planning and Leadership Skills. USA: Cengage Learning. Read More