Ethical beliefs and behaviours among Australian psychologists

Abstract

A random sample of 2,100 members of the Australian Psychological Society was asked to complete a survey on ethical beliefs and behaviours. The survey originally developed by Pope and colleagues consisted of a list of 88 behaviours rated on a Likert scale. Participants were asked to consider specific behaviours indicating how often they engaged in that behaviour and the extent to which they thought it was ethical. Responses from 663 psychologists were used to identify “rare” and “common” behaviours, and beliefs about the ethics of these behaviours. Results suggest there are a number of common behaviours that Australian psychologists engage in relating to rapport, and in general, these behaviours are considered to be ethical. Rare behaviours identified in this study were primarily related to engaging in sexual relationships with clients, and these behaviours were typically rated as unethical. There were a number of behaviours participants found it difficult to judge in terms of ethics, mainly related to financial dealings with clients. A descriptive analysis of findings compared to previous overseas ethics surveys showed some agreement on behaviours identified as common and ethical, as well as behaviours rated as difficult ethical judgments. Less agreement across studies was found for behaviours reported as rare. Importantly, this study provides the first empirical investigation of Australian psychologists' ethical beliefs and behaviours.