Decoding The Ethics Code, Ch. 5

Standards on Competence

2. Competence

2.01 Boundaries of Competence

(a) Psychologists provide services, teach, and conduct research with populations and in areas

only within the boundaries of their competence, based on their education, training, supervised

experience, consultation, study, or professional experience.

Psychologists benefit those with whom they work and avoid harm through the

application of knowledge and techniques gained through education, training, supervised

experience, consultation, study, or professional experience in the field

(Principle A: Beneficence and Nonmaleficence). Competence is the linchpin

enabling psychologists to fulfill other ethical obligations required by the APA Ethics

Code (APA, 2010c). Under Standard 2.01a, psychologists must refrain from providing

services, teaching, or conducting research in areas in which they have not had the

education, training, supervised experience, consultation, study, or professional experience

recognized by the discipline as necessary to conduct their work competently.

? Psychologists with doctoral degrees from programs solely devoted to research would

be in violation of this standard if they provided therapy to individuals without obtaining

additional education or training in practice fields of psychology.

? Graduates of counseling, clinical, or school psychology programs should not conduct

neuropsychological assessments unless their programs, internships, or postdoctoral

experiences provided specialized training in those techniques.

? Psychologists should not offer courses or professional workshops if their graduate

education, training, or continued study is insufficient to provide students with fundamental

knowledge and concepts of the topics or areas to be taught.

? Psychologists without applicable training in job-related counseling and assessment

should not offer executive coaching services (S. K. Anderson, Williams, & Kramer, 2012).

HMO

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