Abstract

Ethics education is considered vital in preparing counselor trainees to be responsible clinicians. However, the effectiveness of ethics education is debatable. Ethical decision-making models are recommended to counselor educators as effective means to assist trainees and professionals in maintaining ethically defensible behavior. Yet, no published empirical research on the effectiveness of ethical decision-making models exists. ;The purpose of the present study was to examine two ethical decision-making models, the A-B-C-D-E Worksheet and the Ethical Justification model on 52 counselor trainees' responses to the Ethical Discrimination Inventory and to Borys' Therapeutic Practices Survey . In addition, trainees' responses to the EDI and the TPS were evaluated on the basis of 3 individual variables and 2 training variables. The individual variables were idealism, relativism and analytical ability. Idealism and relativism were assessed by the Ethics Position Questionnaire and analytical ability by the Graduate Record Exam . The training variables were graduate courses in ethics and practicum. The data were analyzed using a multiple analysis of covariance for a randomized block design at an alpha level of.0167. ;Several significant results occurred in this study: two main effects on the EDI, one interaction effect on TPS total scores and one main effect on a TPS factor score. With respect to the main effects on the EDI, participants in the Ethical Justification treatment condition scored significantly higher on the EDI than did participants in either the A-B-C-D-E or placebo treatment conditions. Secondly, participants who completed a graduate course in ethics scored significantly higher on the EDI than did participants who had not completed the ethics class. In other words, participants were able to correctly discern significantly more ethical issues embedded in different counseling situations if they were trained in the Ethical Justification model or if they had completed the required ethics class. ;Participants received a total score and three factor scores for their performance on the TPS. A significant interaction effect occurred on TPS total scores among participants with different levels of practicum experience and who were trained in the A-B-C-D-E Worksheet treatment condition. Specifically, participants who had not completed a graduate course in practicum and who were trained in the Worksheet model rated the ethicality of all clinical behaviors higher significantly more often than all other participants. Likewise, participants without practicum and trained in the Worksheet condition rated the ethicality of dual role behaviors higher significantly more often then participants without practicum and trained in the other two treatment conditions . In other words, training in the Worksheet condition coupled with no practicum experience led participants to rate clinical behaviors in general and dual role behaviors specifically less cautiously than all other participants. ;These results were discussed in terms of the value of ethics education and the advantages of using ethical decision-making models in counselor preparation programs. In addition, recommendations were made for the future inquiry of ethical decision-making models