Assignment 4

McCurdy, K. G., & Murray, K. C. (2003). Confidentiality Issues When Minor Children Disclose Family Secrets in Family Counseling [Electronic Version]. The Family Journal, 11, 393-398.

Introduction

The study was conducted in 2003-2004. It is about the breach of confidentiality in those specific cases where minor children have disclosed important family secrets during family therapy sessions. The conception has been explained through a clinical case study.

Literature Review

A review of the literature reveals the disclosure of secrets by adults has been thoroughly discussed and the maintenance of confidentiality in an individual context has been ignored. The authors discuss the issue of confidentiality within the familial context.

Procedures

This article presented a clinical case study to exhibit the issue. Empirical analysis was done and adolescents of the age 13 to 17 years and young adults were examined. A population of 30 males and 40 females was analyzed (McCurdy & Murray, 2003).

Findings

It was found that the minor child was prone to disclose significant family secrets and in such cases confidentiality depends on a number of factors such as the counselor's discretion.

Conclusions

The study highlights the positive correlation of age with breach of confidentiality. It further addresses ethical issues that arise in such situations.

Personal Comments

I think I would like to conduct further studies to testify this research in order to find better ways to deal with the ethical issues that arise in such contexts.

Heinlen, K. T., Welfel, E. R., Richmond, E. N. & Rak, C. F. (2003). The Scope of WebCounseling: A Survey of Services and Compliance With NBCC Standards for the Ethical Practice of WebCounseling [Electronic Version]. Journal of Counseling & Development, 81, 61.

Introduction

The study was conducted in 2001-2002. It is about the ethical issues that arise in web counseling sessions, including the ethical duty of the counselor to warn the relatives of the patient regarding his ...