Effects of the problem-solving approach in ethics teaching
Date
1990
Authors
Gawthrop, John Charles
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Abstract
While the teaching of ethics as part of professional training for counsellors has become more widespread in recent years, a review of the literature showed that there is much inconsistency across programs in whether and how ethics are taught. Course impact studies, position papers, new curricula, and surveys of student and practicing psychologists have added to the knowledge base. However, no previous work has identified and investigated the content and process of any method of teaching ethics in terms of impact on ethical decision making.
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effects of the "Problem Solving" in ethics teaching on the quality of ethical decision making. Fifty-nine undergraduate counselling, social work or child care students at the University of Victoria volunteered for the study and were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: (a) treatment group, in which subjects received a three-hour ethical decision making workshop via the "Problem Solving" approach and then were tested with a written exercise; (b) informedĀ control group, in which subjects completed the written exercise with the aid of brief written instructions and the handouts from the treatment group's workshop; and (c) uninformed-control group, in which subjects completed the written exercise unaided by handouts.
In the written exercise, subjects responded to an ethical case vignette which called for a decision and a rationale leading up to the decision. Two trained, independent raters scored the quality of each subject's ethical decision making process with the Tymchuk Rating Scale. Mean scores for all subjects were analyzed using a one-way analysis of variance and t-tests. The treatment group scored significantly higher than either control group on quality of decision making, while no significant differences were found between control groups on this variable. The data suggest that the "Problem Solving" approach in teaching ethics is an effective method of fostering quality ethical decision making, and that the workshop format is an effective way of imparting the information on this approach. Limitations of the study were discussed and suggestions for future research were offered.