CPRP Ethics & Professional Responsibilities 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client discloses during a session that they plan to harm a specific, identifiable third party. Under the duty to protect (Tarasoff principle), the practitioner MUST:
- Maintain confidentiality because the client disclosed this in therapy
- Take reasonable steps to warn the intended victim and notify authorities (Correct answer)
- Only document the threat in the client's chart
- Discontinue services immediately without further action
Correct answer: Take reasonable steps to warn the intended victim and notify authorities
The duty to protect requires practitioners to warn identifiable intended victims and notify law enforcement when a credible threat exists.
Question 2: A practitioner's personal values conflict with a client's chosen rehabilitation goal. The ethically appropriate response is to:
- Substitute the practitioner's judgment for the client's preferences
- Support the client's self-determination while managing personal reactions through supervision (Correct answer)
- Terminate services to avoid value conflicts
- Require the client to justify their choices before proceeding
Correct answer: Support the client's self-determination while managing personal reactions through supervision
Self-determination is a core value; practitioners must support client choice and use supervision to process personal value conflicts.
Question 3: Under HIPAA, which of the following is considered Protected Health Information (PHI) that requires safeguarding?
- De-identified aggregated program statistics
- A client's name combined with their diagnosis and treatment dates (Correct answer)
- General information about psychiatric rehabilitation approaches
- Anonymous intake screening tools
Correct answer: A client's name combined with their diagnosis and treatment dates
PHI includes any individually identifiable health information, including combinations of name, diagnosis, and treatment dates.
Question 4: An organization's policy requires practitioners to use an evidence-based practice that a practitioner believes is contraindicated for a specific client. The practitioner should:
- Follow the policy without question to avoid conflict
- Document clinical reasoning, discuss with supervisor, and advocate for individualized care (Correct answer)
- Implement an alternative intervention without disclosing this to the organization
- Transfer the client to another practitioner
Correct answer: Document clinical reasoning, discuss with supervisor, and advocate for individualized care
Practitioners have an ethical duty to advocate for client welfare within organizational constraints while following appropriate channels.
Question 5: Which of the following BEST illustrates the principle of justice in psychiatric rehabilitation services?
- Providing the same intervention to every client regardless of need
- Ensuring equitable access to services regardless of race, gender, or disability status (Correct answer)
- Treating all client complaints with equal urgency
- Charging uniform fees for all services provided
Correct answer: Ensuring equitable access to services regardless of race, gender, or disability status
Justice requires fair and equitable access to services, addressing systemic disparities that affect marginalized populations.
Question 6: A CPRP practitioner is offered a gift by a grateful client at the end of services. The MOST ethically sound response is to:
- Accept the gift to avoid insulting the client
- Decline the gift, explaining the professional boundary policy (Correct answer)
- Accept only if the gift is under a dollar amount set by agency policy
- Refer the decision to a supervisor without discussing it with the client
Correct answer: Decline the gift, explaining the professional boundary policy
Accepting gifts can compromise professional boundaries; declining respectfully while explaining the rationale maintains therapeutic integrity.
Question 7: Informed consent in psychiatric rehabilitation requires that consent be:
- Obtained only at the start of services and presumed continuous
- Voluntary, informed, and ongoing throughout the service relationship (Correct answer)
- Signed by a family member if the client has a psychiatric diagnosis
- Documented once in the client's file without need for updates
Correct answer: Voluntary, informed, and ongoing throughout the service relationship
Valid informed consent must be voluntary, based on adequate information, and renewed as services or circumstances change.
CPRP Ethics & Professional Responsibilities 3
A client discloses during a session that they plan to harm a specific, identifiable third party.
Under the duty to protect (Tarasoff principle), the practitioner MUST: