Professionalism and Ethics: A Q & A Self- Study Guide for Mental Health Professionals

This first book of its kind for the medical profession brings the real-world translation of ethics to the care of patients, conduct of protocols, and training of professionals. An interactive, case-oriented approach to mental health ethics, Professionalism and Ethics: Q & A Self-Study Guide for Mental Health Professionals consists of questions and answers developed by the authors and fourteen contributors from backgrounds as diverse as family medicine, research ethics, social psychology, and public health. They draw on personal experience in the care of people with mental illness, in mental health research, and in clinical training to generate scenarios that pose ethical questions. Some questions are narrow and to the point, such as responding to a suspicion of child abuse; others require a more nuanced approach, such as dealing with conflict of interest posed by a pharmaceutical company. They then resolve these questions in alignment with an understanding of ethical principles, the standards of their fields, the law, and the expectations of mental health professionals.

The brief case descriptions that frame each ethical question echo the real-life complexities of clinical practice and are presented in single-answer, multiple-choice format modeled after key medical licensure and specialty certification organizations. Following an overview of ethics and professionalism, questions cover four broad areas: core concepts, clinical care, medical research, and interactions with colleagues and trainees. Explanations following the questions offer background information about relevant ethical concepts and related legal and clinical considerations. A subsequent section features another set of questions for self-assessment, followed by answers with citations to appropriate references. The book's overall approach is geared to underscore the following areas of concern: Essential ethical skills, such as understanding how personal values affect patient care, recognizing high-risk situations in which ethical problems arise, and building ethical safeguards Core ethical principles, including nonmaleficence, beneficence, autonomy, respect, justice, veracity, fidelity, and privacy Key clinical ethics issues, including maintaining therapeutic boundaries, patient non-abandonment, informed consent and treatment refusal, alternative decision making and advance directives, confidentiality, reporting colleague misconduct, and caring for difficult patients.

Trainees and experienced clinicians alike will be richly rewarded by considering the dilemmas posed here. Developed with an extensive review process, reference verifications, and iterative crosschecks, this book facilitates professionalism as a core competency in medicine as it instills the need for ongoing consideration of ethical behaviors and principles in the daily practice of psychiatry.

Dr. Roberts serves as Chairman and the Katharine Dexter McCormick and Stanley McCormick Memorial Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine.   

She is an internationally recognized scholar in bioethics, psychiatry, medicine, and medical education, and is identified as a foremost psychiatric ethicist in the United States.  Dr. Roberts has received extensive scientific peer-reviewed funding from the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy, and private foundations to perform empirical studies of modern ethical issues in research, clinical care, and health policy, with a particular focus on vulnerable and special populations.  Her work has led to advances in understanding of ethical aspects of physical and mental illness research, societal implications for genetic innovation, the role of stigma in health disparities, the impact of medical student and physician health issues, and optimal approaches to fostering professionalism in medicine.  
 
Dr. Roberts has been the Editor-in-Chief for the journal Academic Psychiatry since 2002 and serves as an editorial board member and peer reviewer for many scientific and education journals.   Dr. Roberts was the first woman to be elected President of the American Association of Chairs of Departments of Psychiatry.  Dr. Roberts has received numerous awards for leadership, teaching, and science.