Attitudes of school counselors towards ethical problems

The aim of this study was to examine attitudes of school counselors towards ethical problems. The study was conducted with qualitative research method. Thirteen counselors participated in the focus group interviews in order to determine ethical problems of school counselors. According to the focus groupinterviews, a total of 25 cases were identified which includes ethical problems. The cases were structured and transformed into 13 scenarios. Twenty seven other school counselor interviewed afterwards. Participants were asked about how they would behave if they encounter these situations. In addition to the scenarios semi-structured interview questions were asked to participants in order to determine the ethical problems they often experienced, the sources they perceived as obstacles and solutions to solve these ethical problems and their perceptions about an ethically competent counselor. According to the responses of the participants to the scenarios, the ethical problems experienced by school counselors and their approaches to ethical problems were determined. According to the findings, it was seen that school counselors faced ethical problems about a) confidentiality and ignorance of the willingness for psychological help, b) child abuse situations, c) referral process of the students with special needs, d) expanding the scope of esponsibilities with assignments to different schools and institutions, e) uncooperative school staff, f) uncertainty of professional boundaries and g) assigning to administrational tasks. According to the results, when they face ethical problems, school counselors a) take care of the benefit of the students, b) prefer to report even if the conditions are challenging, c) they care about the confidentially and willingness of the student, d) prefer to practice within the scope of their competence e) do not want to accept assignments that do not correspond to their professional roles, and f) found it appropriate to introduce their professional role to school staff and the students. It was also found that when school counselors encounter ethical dilemmas, they think situations including a) ignorance of the willingness by school administration, parents and school staff, b) uncooperative stakeholders, c) uncertainty of authority limits of the counselor might obstruct the solution of the ethical problem. The participants also stated that official institutions related to the case, school staff, police forces, other mental health experts, parents, students, judicial authorities and supervision processes offered by academicians, online or printed sources might help them to solve ethical problems. When the perceptions of the participants were examined, the specifications of an ethical psychological counselor was determined as the following; a) protecting confidentiality, b) knowing the limits of competence and being competent, c) being open to cooperation, d) being patient, e) being persuasive, g) being open to new ideas, g) knowing the rights, laws and regulations and knowing about the reporting process, h) regarding and accepting the students unconditionally, being objective and empathic, and not being discriminatory and avoiding value transfer to the students