Review the following case study:

A team of psychologists were doing research on the levels of stress due to chronic traumatic exposure. The subjects of the research were individuals who were living in areas where civil war and torture were commonplace.

The team received approval for the research study from the Institutional Review Boards at the hospital and university where they were faculty. To get this approval, they had to place many safeguards in the research to protect the participants, including: careful screening of potential participants to exclude those who were more likely to be psychologically harmed by participating; screening the emotional state of participants during the study; following up with each participant one week after the study; and providing each participant with a list of culturally sensitive and trauma-competent agencies and that the participants could call to get free counseling.

Subjects were told that all of their responses and their personal information would be kept private and confidential (except in cases where there was a danger of participants being a danger to self or others), and if they chose to avail themselves of the counseling offered, the counseling agency would not identify them to the researchers.

One participant, a former political prisoner, began to exhibit general nervousness, lack of sleep, night sweats, nightmares, and irritability. She contacted one of the agencies on the list given to her at the study. Her case was given to a third-year counseling student who was at the agency on her internship year.

Assignment Details

Using the ACA and APA Codes of Ethics (and identifying the specific provisions/standards), discuss the following questions:

• To what degree does the research study design adhere to standards for research confidentiality in how it set up the free counseling sessions?
• What ACA/APA provisions/standards did the research team and the study seek to adhere to by offering the option of free post-participation counseling?
• Discuss the possible issues around competence regarding the intern/counselor in terms of knowledge, skills, judgment to use efficacious interventions and especially cultural competency.

Paper Details

• 5- 8 pages, APA Style, not including title page and separate reference page
• Use 3-5 sources, of which 3 must be peer-reviewed articles