Ethical Foundations

Ethics The study of morality Ethics vs morals

Ethics and Health Education Ethical behavior is conscious behavior Ethical behavior is acting with integrity. Moral positions require thought and are NOT primarily dependent on feelings.

Consequentialism (teleologial) Evaluates the moral status of an act by looking at the consequences The END (consequences) does justify the Means (the act).

AKA: deontological or nonconsequentialism Formalism AKA: deontological or nonconsequentialism Determine morality by whether or not an act is right or wrong in itself The END (consequences) does not justify the Means (the act)

Basic Principles for Common Moral Ground

#1: Value of Life Principle “Human beings should revere life and accept death.” (Cottrell et al, p. 147) No life should be ended without very strong justification.

#2: Goodness (rightness) Principle Good and right are at the core of every ethical decision. Beneficence or benevolence: Promotes the welfare of others Nonmaleficence: Do not cause needless harm or injury to others Commission = harm from action Omission = harm from inaction

#3: Justice/Fairness Principle We can expect to be treated justly and fairly in our dealings with other people and institutions.

#4: Truth Telling (honesty) Principle Communicating truth is essential to morality.

#5: Individual Freedom Principle AKA: Equity or Autonomy Having and respecting the origins of individuals to deliberate, choose, and act within the framework of the other basic principles.

The “critical imperative” (Mellert, 1995) Would you want your course of action to be a model for others? If others were faced with the same decision, is this how you would want them to act?

What would you do? You are a health educator responsible for the employee health promotion program at the Corvallis Clinic. Based on the results of the health risk appraisals (HRA’s) you administered, you are aware that one of the department managers is a consistent abuser of alcohol. The employee in question is well liked at the Clinic and is a good employee. To the best of your knowledge, alcohol has not impacted this person’s work performance, but you feel it has the potential to do so. What should you do with this information?

What would you do? You are a high school health teacher. The board of education has a policy that prohibits the teaching or discussing of any contraceptive or birth control method in the district. The only approach that can be mentioned in the classroom is abstinence. As a professional health educator, you have read that the abstinence-only approach is ineffective with a significant number of students. After class one day, one of your students approaches you and asks for the name and location of an abortion clinic. She also asks that you not tell anyone else about this. What will you do?

What would you do? You are the health educator for a large county health department. Your supervisor has asked you to develop a program on safer sex practices for the gay and lesbian population. The program will be made available to lesbian/gay groups in the community. You have no prior experience working with gays and lesbians and you feel uncomfortable dealing with this population. How will you handle this situation?

What would you do? You have been hired as a research assistant on an National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded grant project. Your role on the project is to assist the Principal Investigator (P.I.) in preparing the year- end report to be sent to the NIH. You have read the original grant proposal and are familiar with what was proposed to be done, and what has been done, to date. It is clear to you that the project team has not met the proposed objectives and yet the first draft of the year-end report suggests there have been no problems with the timeline or deliverables. What would you do?

Code of Ethics “…document that maps the dimensions of the profession’s collective social responsibility and acknowledges the obligations individual practitioners share in meeting the profession’s responsibilities.” (Cottrell et al., p. 161)

Code of Ethics for the Health Education Profession Article I: Responsibility to the Public Article II: Responsibility to the Profession Article III: Responsibility to Employers Article IV: Responsibility to the Delivery of Health Education Article V: Responsibility to Research and Evaluation Article VI: Responsibility to Professional Preparation