Ethical Use of Assessment
One assessment instrument that is likely to be used in mental health counselling is Meyers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI). This tool is used to help clients and patients to understand their personality. Just like any other assessment tool in counseling, MBTI requires ethical and legal guidelines in its use. Besides, the ACA’s code of conduct ought to be used while administering the tool among diverse groups of clients. This paper focuses on the ethical use of MBTI as an assessment tool in mental health counseling.
The Meyers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) and its theoretical orientations
The Meyers Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) is an assessment instrument that measures personality type. Developed by Isabel Briggs Myers
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Each of the assessment tools is objective and attempts to assess and evaluate behavior. MBTI tool can be used within the general population as well as among individuals with psychiatric symptoms to assess their personality types. Compared to other assessment tools like the MMPI-2 and interviews that do not involve personality type, the MBTI manual according to Jung has little information regarding diverse populations and cultural issues but still regards typology to be consistent among diverse populations (Myers and McCaulley, 1985). Since Jung’s theory is universal in nature, MBTI can be applied using different languages and on different cultures. However, some studies have argued that while psychological type is universal, preferences might differ across diverse cultures. For instance, in a study involving Chinese students, the personality types T and TJ were found to be common compared to U.S. students (Williams et al., …show more content…
The most critical section of the ACA’s code is section E that focuses on evaluation, assessment and evaluation. According to the section, while using MBTI or any other assessment tool, mental health counselors should consider personal, cultural and social factors while making assessments. For instance, counsellors should recognize the value of past prejudices in misdiagnosis of specific cultures or groups of people. In addition, it is essential for counselors to generate objective results and findings when using MBTI as an assessment tool. Section F of the ACA’s code of ethics can also help in making ethical judgement while administering MBTI among diverse populations as it ensures that the counselor upholds accuracy and honesty while assessing clients (ACA,