JCPSLP Vol 14 No 1 2012

From a consumer and investigation panel perspective Finances “People today are facing so many challenges due to rising financial forces such as rising mortgage fees, fuel expenses, and power bills, to just name a few. People are also in general working longer hours and spending less family time together. These pressures on money, time, and family seem to be impacting decisions to bring forth a case to ethics with some people feeling hard done by or let down by member practitioners.” Business relationships “From a member perspective, there also seems to be pressures on business relationships to succeed. At times complaints are being made that have to be sifted through by the panel to find the true and relevant ethical complaints and separate them apart from purely civil and financial ones. Complainants seem to be under more financial pressure than in the past and complaints at times seem to shift into this domain and may not at all be relevant to the Board.” From a research (and clinical) perspective Consent “People with communication disorders have the right to make informed decisions about whether to participate in research. To make an informed decision, information statements and consent forms must include content and format that is appropriate for the client and/or their carers. While it is vital that vulnerable clients are not coerced into participating in research, it is also important that people with severe communication issues have opportunities to take part in research – particularly when studies will provide evidence that may facilitate intervention for people with similar disorders. If we assume that research participation is an added burden for a client/family, then we can fail to recognise that some clients and their families experience pride and satisfaction from contributing to research that benefits the community. However, this outcome is likely to occur only if research participants are partners in the research process and their contributions are perceived as valued and managed with respect.” “We need to be very mindful of informed consent, particularly for culturally and linguistically diverse members of the community when we offer clinical services.” “We need to consider the impact of low health literacy. In the 2006 Australian literacy and life skills survey, 1 47% of the 9000 people sampled had only Level 1 or Level 2 literacy which equates to about Grade 5 level literacy. This means they could read a short piece of text and find a single piece of information. This has an influence on how we write our research and treatment consent forms, our assessment reports, and handouts!”

Summary Looking back over the themes that emerged, one could argue that, in some ways, this column could have been written at any point in time. Drivers such as money, lack of support, and technology have always had an impact on professional practice. It is the specifics of the current financial situation, the changing world economy, and the fast emerging newer types of technology that influence the current emerging issues. As practitioners, researchers, educators, and members of our professional community we need to be ever vigilant and mindful about these factors and be proactive in our professional lives. As a Board, we hope that the 2010 revision of the Code of Ethics is something that members of the profession can use in a proactive and positive way, for example during orientation, mentoring, and professional development activities and not just something to refer to when things go wrong. Through such proactive, “ethical thinking” we should always strive to avoid ethical problems arising, rather than wait until they do and then have to manage the problems. References Body, R., & McAllister, L. (2009). Ethics in speech and language therapy . West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell. Millsteed, J. (2006). Technology and Ethics. In H. Freegard (Ed.), Ethical practice for health professionals (pp. 210–229). Melbourne: Cengage learning: The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. (2003). Scope of practice . Retrieved from http://www. speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/Core_Assoc_Doc/ Scope_of_Practice.pdf The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. (2010). Code of Ethics . Retrieved from http:// www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/Ethics/ CodeofEthics.pdf The Speech Pathology Association of Australia Limited. (2011). Competency-based occupational standards for speech pathologists: Entry level . Retrieved from http:// www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au/library/Core_Assoc_ Doc/CBOS_for_Speech_Pathologists_2011.pdf

1 This survey is available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/ abs@.nsf/mf/4228.0/

Correspondence to: Dr Suze Leitão CPSP, FSPAA

School of Psychology and Speech Pathology Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University

GPO Box U1987 Perth, WA 6845

phone: +61 (0)8 9266 7620 email: S.Leitao@Curtin.edu.au

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JCPSLP Volume 14, Number 1 2012

Journal of Clinical Practice in Speech-Language Pathology