quality in action #4

Mentoring Partnership of Mentoring Partnership of MinnesotaMinnesota

Quality in ActionQuality in ActionFirst Do No Harm: Ethical Principles First Do No Harm: Ethical Principles for Youth Mentoring Relationshipsfor Youth Mentoring Relationships

May 5, 2010May 5, 2010

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WelcomeWelcome

April RiordanDirector of Training & Community Partnershipsapril@mpmn.org(612) 370-9148

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Webinar LogisticsWebinar Logistics

QuestionsQuestions ““Raise your hand” & we will unmute youRaise your hand” & we will unmute you Or, type questions and submit to us; we will Or, type questions and submit to us; we will

respond directly to you or, if applicable, read respond directly to you or, if applicable, read question aloud to all participantsquestion aloud to all participants

When unmuted, please monitor your When unmuted, please monitor your background noisebackground noise

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Ethical Principles for Youth Ethical Principles for Youth Mentoring RelationshipsMentoring Relationships

Belle Liang, Ph.D, an associate professor of counseling psychology in the Lynch School of Education at Boston College

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Renée Spencer, Ed.D., LICSW, an associate professor in the School of Social Work at Boston University

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OverviewOverview

IntroductionIntroduction Ethical Principles for Youth Mentoring Ethical Principles for Youth Mentoring

RelationshipsRelationships BackgroundBackground The 5 Ethical PrinciplesThe 5 Ethical Principles

ConclusionConclusion

First Do No Harm: Ethical Principles of Youth Mentoring Relationships. First Do No Harm: Ethical Principles of Youth Mentoring Relationships.

Authors: Jean Rhodes, Belle Liang and Authors: Jean Rhodes, Belle Liang and Renèe Spencer in in Professional Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Psychology: Research and Practice of 2009, vol. 40, issue 5, pp. 452-458of 2009, vol. 40, issue 5, pp. 452-458..

Good intentions alone are not enough

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IntroductionIntroduction

Ethical challenges within mentoring relationships Ethical challenges within mentoring relationships have been given little attention by the mentoring have been given little attention by the mentoring field.field.

Nearly ½ of relationships terminate prematurely (Rhodes, 2002).

Volunteer training can affect match effectiveness, retention, relationship quality and youth outcomes (DuBois, Holloway, Valentine, & Cooper, 2002; DuBois & Neville, 1997; Karcher, Nakkula, & Harris, 2005).

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Five Guiding PrinciplesFive Guiding Principles

Promote Welfare and Safety of Young Person

Be Trustworthy and Responsible Act with Integrity

Promote Justice for Young People

Respect the Young Person’s Rights and Dignity

**APA’s Code of Ethics (2002). Ethical principles of psychologists and code of conduct. Washington, DC: Author.

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Promote the Welfare and Safety of the Young Person First Do No HarmFirst Do No Harm

BeneficenceBeneficence - Behavior that benefits the good of another and that helps them to avoid harm.

If volunteers lack skills, knowledge or sound judgment, complications can and do arise.

Harm can arise from either: a) Misuse of power b) Inappropriate boundaries

Grossman & Rhodes, 2002; Kalbfleisch, 1997

I know only that what is moral is what you feel good after and what is immoral is what you feel bad after.

--Ernest Hemingway 1932

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Be Trustworthy and Responsible

Fidelity - Keeping promises and

behaving in a trustworthy manner (Strom-Gottfried, 2008, p. 21)

Meeting frequency and match duration

Trust is a keystone of effective mentoring relationships (Sipe, 1996)

Premature endings can lead to decrements in youth functioning (Grossman & Rhodes, 2002; Herrera et al., 2007; Karcher, 2005; Slicker & Palmer, 1993)

Mentors enter with unrealistic expectations

Mentors feel shame at failure to connect

Be Trustworthy and Responsible

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Mentors are expected to be intentional and candid about commitments to the relationship and avoid setting up false expectations.

Mentors should be expected to bear the greater responsibility for: maintaining consistency, honoring commitments, and seek program staff support

Act with Integrity

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Promote Justice for Young People

Avoid prejudicial treatment Differences in cultural backgrounds and values may lead volunteers to hold or unwittingly act on cultural biasesPrematch training and ongoing supervision are vital Mentoring has potential to promote social change

Largest proportion of volunteer mentors are white, middle-class students and professionals (MENTOR, 2006)

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Respect the Young Person’s Rights and Dignity

Beauchamp & Childress, 2008

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ConfidentialityConfidentiality Training should be provided on issues surrounding confidentiality.

Mentors should inform their protégés of their obligation to breach confidentiality should the protégé disclose that s/he intends to harm his or herself or others. Decisions should be made in consultation with mentoring program staff that involve such disclosure.

Respect the Young Person’s Rights and Dignity

Connections to Quality

How are these ethical principles tied to the movement towards best practices and standards for youth mentoring?

Who is responsible?

What is the role of program staff in promoting ethical principles?

Parents? Funders?

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Conclusions

Programs have an obligation to sensitize volunteer mentors to ethical issues.

Comprehensive prematch and ongoing training can promote more effective relationship development, helping mentors to: better understand and relate to protégés of diverse

backgrounds avoid ethical violations create more positive outcomes

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Resources

First Do No Harm: Ethical Principles of Youth

Mentoring Relationships. Authors: Jean Authors: Jean Rhodes, Belle Liang and Renée Rhodes, Belle Liang and Renée Spencer. Professional Psychology: Research and Professional Psychology: Research and Practice Practice of 2009, of 2009, vol. 40vol. 40, issue 5, pp. 452-, issue 5, pp. 452-458.458.

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Resources

MPM Training www.mpmn.org/traininginstitute

Web sites & PDFs www.delicious.com/traininginstitute

This presentation & others www.slideshare.net/traininginstitute

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Thank You!

Next Quality in Action webinar is June 2, 2010; 12:00 – 1:00 pm CDT Features MPM's K-12 Journey Map and a

discussion of mentoring's impact on youth academic outcomes.