34-3 Counseling Psychologists' Ethical Beliefs and Behaviors on Group Counseling

This study examined the ethical beliefs and behaviors of counseling psychologists on group counseling. A purposive sample of 100 Taiwanese counseling psychologists as group counselors responded to questionnaires eliciting demographics and information about the ethical beliefs and behaviors of group counselors. The information was then used to conduct a second stage in-depth interview with 10 recruited group counselors. Descriptive statistical analysis, cross table analysis and t-test were performed using SPSS 12.0 statistical package software. The obtained quantitative and qualitative data were integrated and compared with data in the literature. The results showed that the ethical beliefs and behaviors of counselors were generally consistent. However, ethical attitudes and behaviors were significantly influenced by education degree and group hours. Beliefs and behaviors also showed lower consistency in items pertaining to time boundary and non-maleficence. Ethical beliefs and behaviors showed conflict in items pertaining to professional competency, informed consent and time boundary. Specifically, qualitative data showed that group counselors were likely to experience dilemmas when two or more rights are in conflict with each other. When that happened, counselors based their ethical actions on the individual differences of group members, group atmosphere, group process, feasibility and limitations.

Keywords
ethical belief、ethical behavior、group counseling