BCIA Ethics & Professional Standards 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: BCIA-certified practitioners are required to complete how many hours of continuing education per recertification cycle?
- 10 hours
- 20 hours
- 36 hours (Correct answer)
- 50 hours
Correct answer: 36 hours
BCIA requires 36 hours of continuing education over a four-year recertification period to maintain certification.
Question 2: When a biofeedback client is already receiving treatment from another healthcare provider, what is the ethical obligation?
- Discontinue the other provider's treatment before beginning biofeedback
- Obtain appropriate releases and coordinate care with the other provider (Correct answer)
- Proceed independently without informing the other provider
- Refer the client back exclusively to the other provider
Correct answer: Obtain appropriate releases and coordinate care with the other provider
Ethical practice requires coordinating care with other treating clinicians, obtaining written releases, and ensuring treatment approaches are complementary.
Question 3: Which ethical principle requires biofeedback practitioners to accurately represent their credentials and training?
- Beneficence
- Nonmaleficence
- Fidelity and responsibility
- Truthfulness/honesty (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Truthfulness/honesty
The ethical principle of truthfulness or honesty requires practitioners to accurately and honestly represent their qualifications, training, and the limitations of biofeedback.
Question 4: A BCIA practitioner who practices outside their documented competence area violates which BCIA standard?
- Conflict of interest
- Scope of competence (Correct answer)
- Informed consent
- Record keeping
Correct answer: Scope of competence
BCIA standards require practitioners to practice only within the scope of their competence as established by education, training, and supervised experience.
Question 5: Informed consent in biofeedback practice must include which of the following?
- A guarantee of treatment outcomes
- An explanation of the nature of biofeedback, expected procedures, risks, and alternatives (Correct answer)
- Client's medical history only
- A statement that no side effects exist
Correct answer: An explanation of the nature of biofeedback, expected procedures, risks, and alternatives
Informed consent requires disclosing the nature of the treatment, procedures, potential risks and benefits, and available alternatives so the client can make a voluntary, informed decision.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes 'multiple relationships' in the context of biofeedback ethics?
- Treating clients from multiple geographic areas
- A practitioner engaging in more than one professional role simultaneously with a client (Correct answer)
- Providing biofeedback alongside other modalities
- Accepting referrals from multiple sources
Correct answer: A practitioner engaging in more than one professional role simultaneously with a client
Multiple relationships occur when a practitioner is in a professional role with a client while simultaneously being in another role (e.g., also a friend, employer, or business partner) with that client.
BCIA Ethics & Professional Standards 1
BCIA-certified practitioners are required to complete how many hours of continuing education per recertification cycle?