Prevalence, prediction, and prevention of psychologist misconduct

RIS ID

58090

Publication Details

Grenyer, B. F. S. & Lewis, K. (2012). Prevalence, prediction, and prevention of psychologist misconduct. Australian Psychologist, 47 (2), 68-76.

Abstract

Studies of psychologist misconduct generally focus on unethical sexual behaviours. In contrast, the following study reports on all complaints by the public against psychologists reported to the New South Wales Psychologis ts Registration Board over a 4-year period. There were 248 independent notifications of misconduct about 224 registered psychologists, out of a total sample of 9,489 registered psychologists_ The most frequent type of misconduct reported was in relation to poor communica tion standards (35.5%). Other complaints were in relation to professional Incompetency (16.5%), poor report writing (14.1%), poor business practices (12.5%)' boundary violations (9.7%), poor cha racter (5.6%), registration status (3.2%), impairment (1.6%), and the inapp ropriate use of specialist titles (1.2%1. Males were 2.5 times more likely to have a misconduct complaint made about them than females. Sen ior highly qualified psychologists att racted a greater number of complaints, but these were generally of a less serious nature, Over a 30-year career, about 20 out of every 100 psychologists can expect to receive a complaint from the public, and two will receive a serious misconduct complaint that might lead to deregistration, Strategies for preventing malpractice arising from these results include regular peer consultation, developing quality practise standards, and mamtaining professional boundaries.

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Link to publisher version (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1742-9544.2010.00019.x