CPLEE - Competence

  1. Scope/Boundaries of Competence - Scope of practice definition
    “a psychologist shall not function outside his or her particular field or fields of competence as established by his or her education, training, and experience.”
  2. Scope/Boundaries of Competence - competence definition
    to “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".
  3. Scope/Boundaries of Competence - providing services in emergency situations
    In emergencies, when psychologists provide services to individuals for whom other mental health services are not available and for which psychologists have not obtained the necessary training, psychologists may provide such services in order to ensure that services are not denied. The services are discontinued as soon as the emergency has ended, or appropriate services are available.”
  4. Impaired Psychologists - personal problems
    Psychologists are legally and ethically obligated to take appropriate actions whenever personal problems or other factors might interfere with their ability to provide effective services. In terms of legal requirements, CCR Section 1396.1 states that “it is recognized that a psychologist’s effectiveness depends upon his or her ability to maintain sound interpersonal relations, and that temporary or more enduring problems in a psychologist’s own personality may interfere with this ability and distort his or her appraisals of others. A psychologist shall not knowingly undertake any activity in which temporary or more enduring personal problems in the psychologist’s personality integration may result in inferior professional services or harm to a patient or client. 

    If a psychologist is already engaged in such activity when becoming aware of such personal problems, he or she shall seek competent professional consultation to determine whether services to the patient or client should be continued or terminated.”
  5. Practice Questions - A licensed psychologist who has just started working in a rural community finds that several of her clients have problems that are outside her training and experience but that there is no other mental health professional in the community who can treat these clients. The psychologist should:

    1. continue seeing the clients only if they are experiencing a crisis or other emergency.

    2. inform the clients of her lack of experience and let them decide if they want to continue seeing her.

    3. continue seeing the clients but obtain appropriate consultation by telephone.

    4. refuse to see the clients until she receives appropriate training.
    Answer 3 is the best response of those given. Standard 2.01 requires psychologists to ordinarily provide only those services that are within the “boundaries of their competence.” However, it is acceptable (and desirable) for psychologists to acquire new knowledge and skills during the course of their practice as long as they obtain adequate training, supervision, or consultation. Although these activities may not be sufficient in certain situations, given the circumstances presented in the question and the actions described in the answers, obtaining appropriate consultation by telephone is the best one. (Note that nothing in the Ethics Code or elsewhere suggests that consultation must be in-person.)
  6. Practice Questions - Dr. Bermeister, a licensed psychologist, is asked to provide crisis intervention counseling to individuals who were affected by a tornado that destroyed many homes in the community. Dr. Bermeister has not had experience providing assistance to people who have been traumatized by a natural disaster, but there is no one else in the area who has experience and is available to see these individuals. As an ethical psychologist, Dr. Bermeister should:

    1. refuse to provide counseling to these individuals.

    2. provide counseling to these individuals but use only strategies and techniques that they have experience using.

    3. disclose their lack of experience to these individuals during the informed consent process.

    4. provide counseling to these individuals but stop when the crisis has ended, or appropriate services become available.
    Answer 4 is most consistent with the requirements of Standard 2.02 of the Ethics Code, which states that: “In emergencies, when psychologists provide services to individuals for whom other mental health services are not available and for which psychologists have not obtained the necessary training, psychologists may provide such services in order to ensure that services are not denied. The services are discontinued as soon as the emergency has ended, or appropriate services are available.”
Author
mdawg
ID
363490
Card Set
CPLEE - Competence
Description
Updated