AIRS Professional Ethics and Standards 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A caller expresses a clear plan to end their life tonight. What is the specialist's ethical priority?
- Keep the call confidential no matter what
- Give a hotline number and hang up
- Ask the caller to call back tomorrow
- Follow crisis protocol to ensure safety, including emergency intervention if needed (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Follow crisis protocol to ensure safety, including emergency intervention if needed
Imminent risk of harm overrides routine confidentiality and requires crisis intervention per agency protocol.
Question 2: An inquirer chooses not to follow the specialist's suggested referral. What principle applies?
- Beneficence requires insisting
- Self-determination: the inquirer has the right to make their own choices (Correct answer)
- The specialist should close their record
- The specialist should report them
Correct answer: Self-determination: the inquirer has the right to make their own choices
Respecting self-determination means honoring the inquirer's decisions even when the specialist disagrees.
Question 3: A specialist shares a funny but identifiable story about a caller on personal social media. This primarily violates which ethical standard?
- Confidentiality and privacy of inquirers (Correct answer)
- Resource database accuracy
- Inclusion/exclusion criteria
- Advocacy standards
Correct answer: Confidentiality and privacy of inquirers
Sharing identifiable inquirer details publicly breaches confidentiality.
Question 4: What is the purpose of an I&R agency's written inclusion/exclusion policy for its resource database?
- To list only agencies that pay a fee
- To exclude faith-based agencies automatically
- To apply consistent, objective criteria for which organizations are listed (Correct answer)
- To let staff add favorite agencies
Correct answer: To apply consistent, objective criteria for which organizations are listed
AIRS standards require a published, consistently applied inclusion/exclusion policy.
Question 5: A third party calls asking whether their adult neighbor has contacted the I&R service. How should the specialist respond?
- Neither confirm nor deny the neighbor's contact, protecting confidentiality (Correct answer)
- Confirm the contact but share no details
- Share the record if the caller sounds concerned
- Ask the neighbor's address and send a letter
Correct answer: Neither confirm nor deny the neighbor's contact, protecting confidentiality
Even acknowledging that someone contacted the service can breach confidentiality.
Question 6: Which action reflects ethical advocacy in I&R work?
- Making decisions for the inquirer
- Threatening agencies that deny service
- Promising inquirers they will qualify
- Intervening with a provider on the inquirer's behalf, with their permission, when barriers arise (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Intervening with a provider on the inquirer's behalf, with their permission, when barriers arise
Ethical advocacy is done with the inquirer's consent to help them overcome service barriers.
Question 7: A specialist promises a caller they will definitely receive rental assistance from a program. Why is this problematic?
- It is too encouraging
- Specialists cannot guarantee eligibility decisions made by other providers (Correct answer)
- Rental assistance is never available
- It violates the database inclusion policy
Correct answer: Specialists cannot guarantee eligibility decisions made by other providers
Specialists should give honest information and not make promises about outcomes controlled by other agencies.
AIRS Professional Ethics and Standards 3
A caller expresses a clear plan to end their life tonight.
What is the specialist's ethical priority?