Questioning the “Slippery Slope”: Ethical Beliefs and Behaviors of Private Office-Based and Church-Based Therapists
✍ Scribed by BARRETT W. McRAY; MARK R. McMINN; KATHERYN RHOADS MEEK
- Publisher
- American Counseling Association
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 558 KB
- Volume
- 42
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0160-7960
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Counselors and other mental health professionals whoseprimaryoffice is in a church buildingoften face uniquechallenges in maintaining appropriate client-therapist boundaries. A sample of497 Christian counselors responded to an 88-item survey of their ethical beliefs and behaviors. Of the respondents, 148 reported a church as theirprimaryworksetting and 162 reported a privateoffice as theirprimary worksetting. Survey results werefactor analyzed, then church-based therapists werecompared with private office-based therapists regarding their views of ethical behaviors. Although church-based therapists take greater liberties with multiple-role relationships than privateoffice-based therapists, they appear similarwith regard to otherethical beliefs and behaviors. Results suggest that churchbased therapists who take liberties in nonsexual multiple-role relationships are no more likely than other therapists to violate otherethicalstandards.