Ethical decision‐making approach of school counseling: A concurrent mixed methods study for taking actions

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to identify ethical decision‐making approaches in school counseling. The study focused on the experiences of secondary school counselors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A concurrent triangulation mixed methods design was used for getting a complete understanding of ethical decision‐making approaches of school counseling. Forty participants were involved in the quantitative part of the study, while six participated in the qualitative part of the study. For the quantitative aspect, a survey was utilized, and the data were analyzed using tables, frequencies, and percentages. The result showed that participants used variety of approaches to deal with ethical challenges for school counseling, including open discussion, personal sense of morality, and respecting code of students' discipline. However, the least percentage (22.5%, n = 9) has observed for using of code of ethics in counseling profession. In the qualitative part, semi‐structured in‐depth interviews were used to explore the experiences of ethical decision‐making and the meaning of those experiences for secondary school counselors currently practicing at Addis Ababa city. Qualitative data were analyzed by using thematic analysis technique. The major ethical decision‐making approaches identified in school counseling were (a) building a good relationship and guaranteed confidentiality, (b) referral linkage, (c) training for students and collaboration, and (d) life experience and personal sense of morality. The most common meanings attributed to dealing with ethical challenges in school were the urge to share information with to get personal relief, feeling of stress, and gain personal satisfaction from acts of compassion. Implications are forwarded to support school counselors in taking an action for professional development and to promote quality of school counseling practices.