Abstract
Objective:
Growing evidence highlights the impact of parent mental health on pediatric health outcomes. Assessment of parent mental health in pediatric settings has been recommended, but the practice has been slowly adopted. Concerns about the ethical implementation of such assessments may be slowing its implementation. The unique settings pediatric psychologists work in (e.g., inpatient consultation services, multidisciplinary medical clinics) make adding the practice more complex.
Methods:
Recently, Molitor and Dvorsky (2019) introduced a four-step, ethics-based model to help guide psychologists. The current article applies this model to situations common in pediatric settings. Key principles/standards from the APA ethics code are discussed.
Results:
When evaluating the necessity/feasibility of the assessment, providers must navigate space/time limitations and ensure assessments are relevant to the child’s care. When considering the family context, providers seek to understand pertinent relationships between parents, children, and medical teams, and identify potential harms that may arise from assessment. Respecting autonomy and ensuring confidentiality encourages psychologists to facilitate informed consent, provide space for parents to comfortably decline assessment, and help parents maintain ownership over their health information. Finally, psychologists must provide a connection to parent resources through identification of adult-focused resources and emergency services as needed.
Conclusions:
Parent mental health assessments have the potential to benefit child health care and improve outcomes. However, psychologists must carefully consider how to implement assessments ethically and responsibly into their own practice. Models such as this one can provide useful guidance as providers navigate key concerns.
Implications for Impact Statement
Calls for integrating parent mental health assessments into pediatric medical care are growing, but implementing the practice requires thoughtful consideration of the American Psychological Association’s ethics code. An ethics-based model is discussed in this article that can help guide pediatric psychologists who are deciding how to incorporate mental health assessments of parents into their practice.
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