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Legal And Ethical Issues In Assessment

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Week 1 Assignment: Legal and ethical issues in assessment

Assessment is an important part of the counseling process, and as such, is the subject of a great number of legal and ethical requirements and standards. These standards are ever evolving, and it is vital for counselors to stay abreast of these requirements on the national and local level in order to remain competent and properly serve a diverse population. The following paper will discuss the assessment laws and administrative rules in Montana and compare these to the International Commission’s statement. This will be followed by a discussion of points that stood out to the author regarding multicultural assessment, ethical and legal considerations, and a personal reflection.
Assessment …show more content…

Licensed Clinical Professional Counselors (LCPC) must graduate from a sixty-credit hour, accredited master’s program whose core courses meet the requirements set forth by the Counsel for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and complete 3,000 supervised hours of counseling practice (Administrative Rules of Montana [ARM], 24.219.603, 2016; ARM. 24.219.604, 2016; Montana Code Annotated [MCA], 37-23-202, 2017). Furthermore, this supervised experience must include the selection, administration, scoring, and interpretation of psychosocial assessment instruments, which state law requires for diagnosis, establishment of treatment goals, and to create, implement, and evaluate a treatment plan (MCA. 37-23-102, 2017). In order to conduct psychological assessments without supervision, an LCPC must have met the above listed education and licensure requirements, as well as academic training at the graduate or postgraduate level from an accredited program regarding assessment and a signed statement from a qualified professional stating the counselor has met the appropriate requirements (ARM. 24.219.1003, 2015). This training must include: (1) Descriptive statistic. (2) The reliability and …show more content…

Subchapter 10 of ARM 24.219 lists requirements regarding the use of assessment, confidentiality, informed consent, the counselor’s level of competence, and inclusion of cultural considerations. For example, ARM 24.219.1005 (2011) states, in addition to the above listed training requirements, counselors only administer tests they are trained and competent in the use and interpretation of. Furthermore, they must: (1) Chose, administer, score, and interpret tests appropriately. (2) Provide accurate information to the client regarding the tests. (3) Identify the client’s misconceptions regarding the assessments and result and educate them in order to correct these misconceptions. Furthermore, ARM 24.219.2011 (2011) stresses the importance of informed consent, explaining the client’s rights regarding testing, and the nature and purpose of the tests in language they can understand, and consideration of their welfare. Testing cannot be done unless the client understands the tests and provides consent.
Multicultural Assessment Standards
There were many points in the Standards for Multicultural Assessment (Association for Assessment in Counseling and Education [AACE], 2012) which stood out to me in regard to assessment, and its role in counseling, and multicultural consideration. This included

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